Portfolio Design Labs LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Portfolio Design Labs LLC grew its position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 54.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 46,861 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 16,449 shares during the quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $2,988,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 1.1% during the third quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $999,000 after buying an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its holdings in General Mills by 1.1% in the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 14,854 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in General Mills by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 6,668 shares of the company’s stock worth $425,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in General Mills by 1.7% in the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,604 shares of the company’s stock worth $783,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp boosted its holdings in General Mills by 61.5% in 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of GIS stock opened at $59.37 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $32.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.91, a PEG ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.10. General Mills, Inc. has a one year low of $57.85 and a one year high of $75.90. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $62.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $67.09. 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 (NYSE:GIS) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The company’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.25 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.04%. General Mills’s payout ratio is 52.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on GIS shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, December 19th. 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. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of General Mills from $78.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Citigroup dropped their target price 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. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $78.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.13.

Insider Activity

In other General Mills news, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total value 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. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

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.