Arkadios Wealth Advisors Purchases 392 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Arkadios Wealth Advisors raised its stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 36,362 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 392 shares during the quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors’ holdings in General Mills were worth $2,319,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in General Mills by 1.1% in the third quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $999,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC increased its stake in General Mills by 1.1% in the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 14,854 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,097,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in General Mills by 0.8% in the second quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 21,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,368,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in General Mills by 1.7% in the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,604 shares of the company’s stock valued at $783,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its stake in General Mills by 2.6% in the second quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 6,789 shares of the company’s stock valued at $428,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on GIS shares. Bank of America raised General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $78.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, General Mills currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.31.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GIS opened at $59.64 on Friday. General Mills, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $57.94 and a fifty-two week high of $75.90. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $63.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $67.49. The company has a market capitalization of $32.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.97, a P/E/G ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.92.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.25 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is 52.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In related news, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the director now owns 23,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,465,007.58. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.61, for a total transaction of $3,190,365.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 355,328 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,379,054.08. This trade represents a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 48,541 shares of company stock valued at $3,321,170. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

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.