Principle Wealth Partners LLC Purchases 1,726 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Principle Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 3.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 51,233 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,726 shares during the period. Principle Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $3,267,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its holdings in General Mills by 29.6% in the 3rd quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 22,889 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,690,000 after buying an additional 5,224 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Planning Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills during the 3rd quarter valued at about $503,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its stake in shares of General Mills by 9,143.2% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,010,000 after acquiring an additional 13,532 shares during the period. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA purchased a new position in shares of General Mills during the third quarter valued at approximately $237,000. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC lifted its position in General Mills by 46.7% during the third quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 606 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In other General Mills news, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total transaction of $63,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,013 shares in the company, valued at $1,465,007.58. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total value of $67,144.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at $2,716,546.50. This trade represents a 2.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on GIS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on General Mills from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays cut their price target on General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of General Mills from $78.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. 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 data from MarketBeat, General Mills presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.13.

General Mills Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of GIS stock opened at $58.06 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $32.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.62, a PEG ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.10. 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $62.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $67.15. General Mills, Inc. has a one year low of $57.85 and a one year high of $75.90.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.18. The business 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 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.25 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.13%. General Mills’s payout ratio is 52.17%.

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.