Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC Grows Stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 15.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,606 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,473 shares during the quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $1,187,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GIS. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its position in General Mills by 22.1% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 237,850 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,565,000 after purchasing an additional 43,086 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in General Mills by 105.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company’s stock worth $421,552,000 after buying an additional 2,926,232 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in General Mills by 129.9% during the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 184,823 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,649,000 after buying an additional 104,436 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in General Mills by 64.5% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,803,046 shares of the company’s stock valued at $497,054,000 after acquiring an additional 3,058,414 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ellsworth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 105.8% in the 3rd quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC now owns 144,851 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,697,000 after acquiring an additional 74,456 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on GIS shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective 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. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays reduced their price target on General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on General Mills from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Mills has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.31.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, 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 transaction of $63,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 23,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,465,007.58. The trade was 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, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total transaction of $67,144.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at $2,716,546.50. This represents a 2.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 48,541 shares of company stock valued at $3,321,170. 0.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

General Mills Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:GIS opened at $59.64 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $32.88 billion, a PE ratio of 12.97, a PEG ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.11. General Mills, Inc. has a 12-month low of $57.94 and a 12-month high of $75.90. The business has a 50 day moving average of $63.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $67.49. 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 (NYSE:GIS) last posted its 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 firm had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The business’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.25 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.42 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.02%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.