Palouse Capital Management Inc. Sells 445 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Palouse Capital Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 51,681 shares of the company’s stock after selling 445 shares during the quarter. General Mills comprises 2.2% of Palouse Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest position. Palouse Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $3,296,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in shares of General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Values First Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of General Mills during the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Planning Capital Management Corp lifted its position in shares of General Mills by 61.5% during the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 507 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares during the period. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of General Mills during the 3rd quarter valued at $44,000. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on GIS shares. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $78.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Mills presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.13.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In other General Mills news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total transaction of $67,144.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 42,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,716,546.50. This represents a 2.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

General Mills Price Performance

GIS opened at $58.85 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $32.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.79, a PEG ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $61.61 and a 200 day moving average of $66.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.92. General Mills, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $57.85 and a fifty-two week high of $75.90.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.25 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.4 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.08%. General Mills’s payout ratio is currently 52.17%.

About General Mills

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.