Sound Income Strategies LLC Boosts Stock Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its holdings in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS – Get Rating) by 29.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,536 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 351 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $129,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GIS. Romano Brothers AND Company purchased a new stake in General Mills during the third quarter worth approximately $707,000. M&G Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of General Mills in the 3rd quarter valued at $227,000. Trilogy Capital Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. now owns 2,967 shares of the company’s stock valued at $227,000 after buying an additional 302 shares in the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its position in shares of General Mills by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 34,035 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,568,000 after buying an additional 1,180 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Checchi Capital Advisers LLC raised its stake in General Mills by 19.7% during the 2nd quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 6,801 shares of the company’s stock worth $509,000 after acquiring an additional 1,120 shares in the last quarter. 74.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In other General Mills news, insider Sean N. Walker sold 27,157 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.87, for a total value of $2,304,814.59. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 90,975 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,721,048.25. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Sean N. Walker sold 27,157 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.87, for a total transaction of $2,304,814.59. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 90,975 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,721,048.25. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jonathon Nudi sold 10,894 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.49, for a total transaction of $920,434.06. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 82,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,994,420.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 40,006 shares of company stock worth $3,393,359 over the last three months. 0.67% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on GIS shares. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 21st. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on General Mills in a research report on Tuesday, January 3rd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $88.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on General Mills from $73.00 to $69.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 16th. UBS Group raised General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $88.00 in a report on Thursday, January 26th. Finally, Mizuho initiated coverage on shares of General Mills in a report on Wednesday, February 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $75.00 target price on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $82.94.

General Mills Stock Down 0.8 %

GIS stock opened at $79.79 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.04 billion, a PE ratio of 16.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a fifty day moving average of $78.79 and a 200-day moving average of $79.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.58. General Mills, Inc. has a one year low of $61.67 and a one year high of $88.34.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, December 20th. The company reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.04. General Mills had a net margin of 15.02% and a return on equity of 24.09%. The firm had revenue of $5.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.15 billion. As a group, analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 10th will be issued a $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 6th. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.71%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.09%.

About General Mills

(Get Rating)

General Mills, Inc engages in the manufacture and marketing of branded consumer foods sold through retail stores. The firm operates through the following segments: North America Retail, Europe & Australia, Convenience Stores & Foodservice, Pet, and Asia & Latin America. The North America Retail segment includes grocery stores, mass merchandisers, membership stores, natural food chains, drug, dollar and discount chains and e-commerce grocery providers.