Avanza Fonder AB Purchases New Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Avanza Fonder AB acquired a new position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 57,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,676,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC raised 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 in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of General Mills by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 21,629 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,368,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 1.7% during the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,604 shares of the company’s stock valued at $783,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its holdings in General Mills by 2.6% during the second quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 6,789 shares of the company’s stock valued at $428,000 after buying an additional 174 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

General Mills Stock Performance

Shares of GIS stock opened at $59.64 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $63.88 and a 200 day moving average of $67.52. General Mills, Inc. has a 1 year low of $57.94 and a 1 year high of $75.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.11.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The company’s revenue 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. As a group, research analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.42 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.17%.

Insider Transactions at General Mills

In other news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 42,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,716,546.50. This trade represents a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.61, for a total transaction of $3,190,365.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 355,328 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,379,054.08. This represents a 11.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 48,541 shares of company stock worth $3,321,170 over the last 90 days. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays dropped their target price on General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Bank of America raised shares of General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $78.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of General Mills from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Mills has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.31.

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.