First City Capital Management Inc. Raises Stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

First City Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 9.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 3,837 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 347 shares during the period. First City Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $245,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in General Mills by 1.1% in the third quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $999,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators grew its holdings in General Mills by 4.9% in the second quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 3,261 shares of the company’s stock valued at $206,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 14,854 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of General Mills by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 21,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,368,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the period. Finally, Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of General Mills by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,604 shares of the company’s stock worth $783,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other General Mills news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.61, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 11.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Mark A. Pallot sold 8,083 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.28, for a total value of $576,156.24. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 14,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,055,870.64. This trade represents a 35.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 56,624 shares of company stock valued at $3,897,326 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GIS has been the topic of a number of research reports. TD Cowen cut their price objective on General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.56.

General Mills Stock Performance

NYSE GIS traded up $0.38 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $63.92. The company had a trading volume of 1,340,348 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,265,019. General Mills, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $61.47 and a fifty-two week high of $75.90. The firm has a market cap of $35.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $65.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $67.92.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.85% and a net margin of 12.14%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.25 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.75%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.