Willner & Heller LLC Decreases Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Willner & Heller LLC decreased its holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 40.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,740 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,505 shares during the quarter. Willner & Heller LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $238,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Planning Capital Management Corp grew its position in General Mills by 61.5% during the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 507 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new stake in General Mills during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in General Mills during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 46.7% in the third quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 606 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the company’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 value of $63,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 23,013 shares in the company, valued at $1,465,007.58. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.61, for a total value of $3,190,365.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 355,328 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,379,054.08. This represents a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 48,541 shares of company stock worth $3,321,170 over the last quarter. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

General Mills Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of GIS opened at $59.64 on Monday. General Mills, Inc. has a 12 month low of $57.94 and a 12 month high of $75.90. The firm has a market cap of $32.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.97, a PEG ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $63.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $67.52.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.18. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.25 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued 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 4.02%. General Mills’s payout ratio is currently 52.17%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on GIS. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on General Mills from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $78.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average 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.