Brookstone Capital Management Raises Stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Brookstone Capital Management lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 31.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,950 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,716 shares during the quarter. Brookstone Capital Management’s holdings in General Mills were worth $1,272,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in General Mills by 6.4% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 589,423 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,287,000 after acquiring an additional 35,680 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in General Mills by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,560,066 shares of the company’s stock valued at $225,210,000 after purchasing an additional 76,074 shares in the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its position in General Mills by 49.4% in the 2nd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 5,927 shares of the company’s stock valued at $375,000 after purchasing an additional 1,960 shares in the last quarter. Plancorp LLC raised its position in General Mills by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. Plancorp LLC now owns 7,232 shares of the company’s stock valued at $458,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in General Mills in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,295,000. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

General Mills Trading Down 0.8 %

NYSE:GIS opened at $58.32 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.66. General Mills, Inc. has a one year low of $58.20 and a one year high of $75.90. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $64.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.64. The stock has a market cap of $32.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 0.11.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its quarterly 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 26.85% and a net margin of 12.14%. The business had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.25 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.12%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. General Mills’s payout ratio is currently 52.17%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on GIS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Barclays cut their target price on General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. 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 Thursday, December 19th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on General Mills from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on General Mills from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.31.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In other news, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the 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 sale, the director now directly owns 23,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,465,007.58. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at $24,379,054.08. The trade was a 11.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 48,541 shares of company stock worth $3,321,170 over the last quarter. 0.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.