Ceera Investments LLC Increases Stock Holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Ceera Investments LLC boosted its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 10.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,666 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 725 shares during the quarter. Ceera Investments LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $566,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Arkadios Wealth Advisors raised its stake in General Mills by 41.8% in the second quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 36,503 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,309,000 after purchasing an additional 10,765 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its position in General Mills by 22.1% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 237,850 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,565,000 after acquiring an additional 43,086 shares during the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. grew its position in General Mills by 92.5% during the first quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 48,721 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,409,000 after acquiring an additional 23,411 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its position in General Mills by 129.9% during the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 184,823 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,649,000 after acquiring an additional 104,436 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DNB Asset Management AS grew its position in General Mills by 10.5% during the second quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 119,106 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,334 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

General Mills Stock Performance

NYSE:GIS opened at $63.21 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $35.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.11. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $70.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $68.84. General Mills, Inc. has a twelve month low of $61.47 and a twelve month high of $75.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 18th. The company reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $4.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.80 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 12.14% and a return on equity of 26.85%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.09 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.51 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.80%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 57.14%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on GIS. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of General Mills from $77.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In other General Mills news, CAO Mark A. Pallot sold 8,083 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.28, for a total transaction of $576,156.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 14,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,055,870.64. This trade represents a 35.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 355,328 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,379,054.08. This represents a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 66,555 shares of company stock valued at $4,657,676. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.