Westpac Banking Corp Sells 110,823 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Westpac Banking Corp cut its position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 71.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 45,113 shares of the company’s stock after selling 110,823 shares during the quarter. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in General Mills were worth $3,460,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in General Mills by 123,599.0% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,076,005 shares of the company’s stock worth $928,723,000 after purchasing an additional 11,067,051 shares in the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its position in shares of General Mills by 99,497.8% in the second quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 5,302,586 shares of the company’s stock valued at $406,708,000 after buying an additional 5,297,262 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $382,081,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in General Mills by 101.7% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,935,085 shares of the company’s stock worth $592,673,000 after buying an additional 3,496,741 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in General Mills by 627.7% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,536,513 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,213,000 after acquiring an additional 3,050,525 shares during the period. 75.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GIS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America cut their target price on General Mills from $82.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $61.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 20th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of General Mills from $88.00 to $77.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 18th. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of General Mills from $71.00 to $69.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $74.94.

General Mills Price Performance

GIS traded up $0.38 on Thursday, reaching $65.07. The stock had a trading volume of 2,274,618 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,756,626. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The company has a market capitalization of $37.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.27. General Mills, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $60.33 and a fifty-two week high of $90.89. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $64.52 and a 200-day moving average of $73.54.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 20th. The company reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.01. General Mills had a return on equity of 24.39% and a net margin of 12.07%. The company had revenue of $4.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.88 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.11 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.48 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 10th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 9th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.63%. General Mills’s payout ratio is 57.56%.

General Mills Company 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 salty snacks, ice cream and frozen desserts, nutrition bars, and savory snacks, as well as various organic products, including frozen and shelf-stable vegetables.