Manchester Capital Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Manchester Capital Management LLC grew its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 37.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,463 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 402 shares during the quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $93,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the business’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 sale, the insider now directly owns 42,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,716,546.50. The trade was a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on GIS. Barclays dropped their price objective on General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America raised General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $78.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price target on General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.13.

General Mills Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of General Mills stock opened at $58.85 on Friday. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $57.85 and a 1 year high of $75.90. The company has a market capitalization of $32.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.79, a P/E/G ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.10. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $61.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $66.88.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released 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. 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%. General Mills’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.25 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.08%. General Mills’s payout ratio is currently 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.