Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Has $873,000 Stock Holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 4.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,684 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 631 shares during the quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in General Mills were worth $873,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Echo Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in General Mills by 39.7% during the fourth quarter. Echo Wealth Management LLC now owns 40,396 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,576,000 after purchasing an additional 11,474 shares during the period. Juncture Wealth Strategies LLC lifted its stake in General Mills by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Juncture Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 6,043 shares of the company’s stock worth $385,000 after purchasing an additional 299 shares during the period. Compass Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in General Mills by 43.0% during the fourth quarter. Compass Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,430 shares of the company’s stock worth $91,000 after purchasing an additional 430 shares during the period. CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in General Mills during the fourth quarter worth about $278,000. Finally, Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in General Mills by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 98,668 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,292,000 after purchasing an additional 7,016 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

General Mills Price Performance

GIS opened at $59.84 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $63.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $67.44. 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, Inc. has a 52 week low of $57.94 and a 52 week high of $75.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.99 billion, a PE ratio of 13.01, a P/E/G ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 0.11.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.25 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.42 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

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 issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.01%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.17%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the business’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 approximately $2,716,546.50. The trade was a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total transaction of $63,660.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 23,013 shares in the company, valued at $1,465,007.58. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on GIS. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. 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 note on Tuesday, January 7th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $78.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $70.94.

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.