Meridian Wealth Management LLC Makes New Investment in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Meridian Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 51,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,812,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Studio Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in General Mills by 1.5% during the third quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC now owns 63,889 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,718,000 after acquiring an additional 916 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 26.3% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 98,886 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,303,000 after purchasing an additional 20,571 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of General Mills by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,823,254 shares of the company’s stock worth $282,347,000 after purchasing an additional 263,188 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,398,000. Finally, Trustmark National Bank Trust Department increased its position in General Mills by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Trustmark National Bank Trust Department now owns 31,674 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,339,000 after buying an additional 349 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on GIS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of General Mills from $67.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, General Mills currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $72.67.

General Mills Stock Up 1.4 %

GIS opened at $65.00 on Friday. General Mills, Inc. has a 12 month low of $61.47 and a 12 month high of $75.90. The company has a market cap of $36.09 billion, a PE ratio of 15.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. The company has a 50 day moving average of $69.64 and a 200 day moving average of $68.63.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 18th. The company reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $4.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.80 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 down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.09 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.51 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. General Mills’s payout ratio is 57.14%.

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 sale, the chief executive officer now 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total value of $63,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,465,007.58. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 67,555 shares of company stock worth $4,721,336 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

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.