CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC Acquires Shares of 4,363 General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 4,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $278,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in General Mills by 6.4% in the 2nd 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 last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its position in General Mills by 70.3% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 21,535 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,362,000 after buying an additional 8,887 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in General Mills by 6.4% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,157,232 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,206,000 after buying an additional 69,902 shares during the last quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC purchased a new stake in General Mills in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,657,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in shares of General Mills by 6.1% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,629,943 shares of the company’s stock worth $356,151,000 after acquiring an additional 323,090 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

General Mills Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of GIS opened at $60.37 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $63.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.92. General Mills, Inc. has a 1 year low of $57.94 and a 1 year high of $75.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.28 billion, a PE ratio of 13.12, a P/E/G ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 0.11.

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

General Mills Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.98%. General Mills’s payout ratio is 52.17%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Mills news, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now directly owns 23,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,465,007.58. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, 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 transaction of $67,144.50. Following 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 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

GIS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of 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. Bank of America raised shares of General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $78.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on General Mills from $78.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.