General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Shares Purchased by Arete Wealth Advisors LLC

Arete Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 17.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,815 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 560 shares during the period. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $242,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of GIS. RFG Advisory LLC lifted its stake in General Mills by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 6,668 shares of the company’s stock valued at $425,000 after buying an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. TCW Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 23,061 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,471,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,579 shares of the company’s stock valued at $356,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. increased its position in General Mills by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,916 shares of the company’s stock worth $250,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC raised its stake in General Mills by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 3,593 shares of the company’s stock valued at $265,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In related news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total value of $739,635.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 353,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,967,490. This represents a 3.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GIS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of General Mills from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Barclays reduced their price target on General Mills from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on General Mills from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, General Mills currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $65.69.

General Mills Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE GIS opened at $59.64 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $59.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. General Mills, Inc. has a 12-month low of $55.15 and a 12-month high of $75.90. The company has a market cap of $32.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.15.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.99 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.17 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.02%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.75%.

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.