Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 20,144 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. cut its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 48.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 21,228 shares of the company’s stock after selling 20,144 shares during the period. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $1,568,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 16.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,298,880 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,219,113,000 after purchasing an additional 8,444,312 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in General Mills by 22.3% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 13,650,388 shares of the company’s stock valued at $955,118,000 after buying an additional 2,488,341 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in General Mills by 100.4% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,728,710 shares of the company’s stock valued at $299,138,000 after acquiring an additional 2,368,563 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its holdings in General Mills by 6,140.4% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 945,421 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,807,000 after acquiring an additional 930,271 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of General Mills in the 1st quarter worth about $36,177,000. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GIS opened at $64.71 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $35.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.41, a PEG ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.66. General Mills, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $61.47 and a fifty-two week high of $75.90. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $71.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $68.93.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 18th. The company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $4.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.80 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 12.14% and a return on equity of 26.85%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.09 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.71%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 57.14%.

Insider Activity

In other General Mills news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.61, for a total value of $3,190,365.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 355,328 shares in the company, valued at $24,379,054.08. The trade was a 11.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Pankaj Mn Sharma sold 2,325 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.63, for a total transaction of $173,514.75. Following the sale, the insider now owns 36,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,700,411.92. The trade was a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,555 shares of company stock valued at $4,657,676 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on GIS shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on General Mills from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Bank of America increased their price target on General Mills from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $73.00.

General Mills Profile

General Mills, Inc manufactures and markets branded consumer foods worldwide. The company operates through four segments: North America Retail; International; Pet; and North America Foodservice. It offers grain, ready-to-eat cereals, refrigerated yogurt, soup, meal kits, refrigerated and frozen dough products, dessert and baking mixes, bakery flour, frozen pizza and pizza snacks, snack bars, fruit and savory snacks, ice cream and frozen desserts, unbaked and fully baked frozen dough products, frozen hot snacks, ethnic meals, side dish mixes, frozen breakfast and entrees, nutrition bars, and frozen and shelf-stable vegetables.