Lion Street Advisors LLC Acquires 290,240 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Lion Street Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 38.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,048,863 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 290,240 shares during the period. General Mills comprises 21.3% of Lion Street Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Lion Street Advisors LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $66,886,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GIS. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in shares of General Mills during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Values First Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of General Mills during the third quarter worth $27,000. Planning Capital Management Corp lifted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of General Mills during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of General Mills during the third quarter worth $44,000. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on GIS. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of 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 reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $78.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. One equities 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. According to MarketBeat, General Mills presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.94.

General Mills Stock Down 1.5 %

GIS stock opened at $58.98 on Wednesday. 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 $57.94 and a 1-year high of $75.90. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $62.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $67.30. The firm has a market cap of $32.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.82, a PEG ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 0.10.

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. The business had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.25 earnings per share. Research 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.07%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.17%.

Insider Transactions at General Mills

In other news, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were 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 owns 23,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,465,007.58. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total transaction of $67,144.50. Following the transaction, the insider now 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 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.