Advisors Preferred LLC Invests $432,000 in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Advisors Preferred LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 6,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $432,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in shares of General Mills in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Values First Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in General Mills during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Planning Capital Management Corp raised its holdings in General Mills by 61.5% in the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 507 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of General Mills in the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills during the third quarter valued at approximately $44,000. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

General Mills Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of GIS stock opened at $58.86 on Friday. 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 has a market cap of $32.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.80, a PEG ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.10. General Mills, Inc. has a 1 year low of $57.94 and a 1 year high of $75.90. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $62.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $67.16.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.25 earnings per share. General Mills’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.4 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.08%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is 52.17%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Mills news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,716,546.50. This represents a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were 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 in the company, 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. 0.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America upgraded shares of General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $78.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on General Mills from $78.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $70.94.

General Mills Company 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.