Clarius Group LLC Acquires 486 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Clarius Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 9.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 5,657 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 486 shares during the period. Clarius Group LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $361,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in General Mills by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,532 shares of the company’s stock worth $999,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its holdings in General Mills by 1.1% during the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 14,854 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,097,000 after buying an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in General Mills by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 21,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,368,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in General Mills by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,604 shares of the company’s stock valued at $783,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in General Mills by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 6,789 shares of the company’s stock worth $428,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In other General Mills news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.61, for a total value of $3,190,365.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 355,328 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,379,054.08. This trade represents a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 23,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,465,007.58. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 48,541 shares of company stock valued at $3,321,170 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on GIS shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Citigroup decreased their price target on General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America raised General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $78.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, General Mills presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.31.

General Mills Price Performance

General Mills stock opened at $59.64 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.97, a PEG ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.11. General Mills, Inc. has a one year low of $57.94 and a one year high of $75.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $63.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $67.52.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued 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 business had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.25 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.42 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.02%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.17%.

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.