Proficio Capital Partners LLC Buys Shares of 175,289 General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 175,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,178,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GIS. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of General Mills by 64.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,803,046 shares of the company’s stock valued at $497,054,000 after acquiring an additional 3,058,414 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of General Mills by 105.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $421,552,000 after acquiring an additional 2,926,232 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of General Mills by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,502,737 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,474,177,000 after acquiring an additional 2,867,678 shares during the period. Nepsis Inc. raised its position in shares of General Mills by 3,504.8% in the 4th quarter. Nepsis Inc. now owns 2,164,395 shares of the company’s stock valued at $138,023,000 after acquiring an additional 2,104,353 shares during the period. Finally, DDD Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $21,776,000. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In other General Mills news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $739,635.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 353,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,967,490. This trade represents a 3.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 42,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,716,546.50. This represents a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Price Performance

NYSE:GIS opened at $59.53 on Friday. General Mills, Inc. has a 1-year low of $55.15 and a 1-year high of $75.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $65.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.82 billion, a PE ratio of 12.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The business had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.25 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.03%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is 52.17%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GIS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 20th. 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 report on Wednesday, December 18th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of General Mills from $78.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Mills presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.71.

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.