General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Stock Holdings Lifted by Quent Capital LLC

Quent Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 74.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,722 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,164 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $174,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in General Mills during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in General Mills during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Planning Capital Management Corp grew its position in General Mills by 61.5% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 507 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in General Mills during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in General Mills during the third quarter valued at approximately $44,000. 75.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GIS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. 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. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of General Mills from $78.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.13.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of General Mills stock opened at $58.46 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.71, a PEG ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.10. General Mills, Inc. has a 1-year low of $57.85 and a 1-year high of $75.90. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $67.05. 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 released its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 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 quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.25 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.4 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.11%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s payout ratio is currently 52.17%.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In related news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 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. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

About General Mills

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.