VSM Wealth Advisory LLC Buys Shares of 500 General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. RFG Advisory LLC raised its holdings in General Mills by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 6,668 shares of the company’s stock valued at $425,000 after buying an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. TCW Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of General Mills by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 23,061 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,471,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the period. Quadrant Private Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of General Mills by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,579 shares of the company’s stock worth $356,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of General Mills by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,916 shares of the company’s stock worth $250,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the period. Finally, LRI Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of General Mills by 5.9% in the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 3,593 shares of the company’s stock worth $265,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on GIS shares. Barclays dropped their price objective on General Mills from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. TD Cowen decreased their target price on General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. 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 Monday. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on General Mills from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and four have issued 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 $66.76.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total value of $739,635.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,967,490. This trade represents a 3.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GIS opened at $58.31 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $59.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $65.37. General Mills, Inc. has a 1-year low of $55.15 and a 1-year high of $75.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.04. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The business had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.99 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.17 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.12%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.17%.

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.