Valmark Advisers Inc. Cuts Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Valmark Advisers Inc. reduced its stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 6,872 shares of the company’s stock after selling 242 shares during the period. Valmark Advisers Inc.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $438,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of General Mills by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the company’s stock valued at $304,000 after buying an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in General Mills by 22.1% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 237,850 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,565,000 after acquiring an additional 43,086 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in General Mills by 105.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $421,552,000 after acquiring an additional 2,926,232 shares in the last quarter. J2 Capital Management Inc acquired a new stake in General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $547,000. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its position in shares of General Mills by 129.9% during the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 184,823 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,649,000 after purchasing an additional 104,436 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at General Mills

In related news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total value of $67,144.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 42,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,716,546.50. This represents a 2.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Trading Down 2.2 %

NYSE GIS opened at $57.53 on Wednesday. General Mills, Inc. has a one year low of $55.15 and a one year high of $75.90. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $66.81. The firm has a market cap of $31.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.51, a PEG ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.10. 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 released its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.18. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The firm had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.14 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.25 earnings per share. General Mills’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.17%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.17%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on GIS shares. Citigroup lowered their price target on General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company 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 research report on Friday, December 20th. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Bank of America upgraded shares of General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $78.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on General Mills from $78.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.13.

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.