Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Decreases Stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans cut its holdings in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 4.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 42,817 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,211 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in General Mills were worth $2,734,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in General Mills by 15.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 187,256 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,829,000 after buying an additional 25,752 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new position in General Mills in the 3rd quarter worth about $355,000. Townsquare Capital LLC grew its holdings in General Mills by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 60,018 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,432,000 after buying an additional 2,290 shares in the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of General Mills by 80.4% during the third quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 13,362 shares of the company’s stock valued at $987,000 after buying an additional 5,955 shares during the period. Finally, Providence Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of General Mills by 1.0% during the third quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 38,641 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,854,000 after buying an additional 377 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on GIS. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, General Mills currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $65.69.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of General Mills stock opened at $59.65 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06. The company has a fifty day moving average of $59.98 and a 200-day moving average of $64.86. General Mills, Inc. has a 52-week low of $55.15 and a 52-week high of $75.90. 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 (NYSE:GIS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.04. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The firm had revenue of $4.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.99 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.17 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.02%. General Mills’s payout ratio is currently 52.75%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $739,635.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,967,490. This represents a 3.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

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 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.