Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Reduces Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. reduced its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 7.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,875 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,241 shares during the quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $949,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Values First Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in General Mills in the third quarter valued at $27,000. Planning Capital Management Corp lifted 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 worth $37,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the period. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in General Mills in the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in General Mills in the third quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on GIS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped 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, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target 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. One research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $70.94.

General Mills Stock Down 0.6 %

GIS stock opened at $58.86 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $32.45 billion, a PE ratio of 12.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.10. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $62.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.14. General Mills, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $57.94 and a fifty-two week high of $75.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.25 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.4 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s payout ratio is currently 52.17%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total value of $67,144.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,716,546.50. This represents a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total transaction of $63,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,465,007.58. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.