Simon Quick Advisors LLC Takes $325,000 Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Simon Quick Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 5,097 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $325,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in shares of General Mills by 6.4% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 42,121 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,664,000 after acquiring an additional 2,528 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in General Mills by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 92,171 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,831,000 after purchasing an additional 574 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its position in General Mills by 70.3% in the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 21,535 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,362,000 after purchasing an additional 8,887 shares during the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 59.5% during the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 108,126 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,840,000 after purchasing an additional 40,324 shares during the period. Finally, AXA S.A. raised its position in shares of General Mills by 3.7% during the second quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 340,430 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,536,000 after buying an additional 12,128 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Stock Up 0.5 %

NYSE GIS opened at $59.62 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $63.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.45. General Mills, Inc. has a one year low of $57.94 and a one year high of $75.90. The firm has a market cap of $32.87 billion, a PE ratio of 12.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.25 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.03%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. General Mills’s payout ratio is presently 52.17%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of General Mills 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 directly owns 42,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,716,546.50. This trade represents a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total value of $63,660.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,013 shares in the company, valued at $1,465,007.58. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on GIS shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on General Mills from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.31.

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.