Advocate Group LLC Has $33.36 Million Stock Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Advocate Group LLC cut its holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 523,124 shares of the company’s stock after selling 12,465 shares during the quarter. General Mills makes up about 6.3% of Advocate Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its largest holding. Advocate Group LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $33,360,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 6.4% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 42,121 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,664,000 after buying an additional 2,528 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its holdings in General Mills by 70.3% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 21,535 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,362,000 after purchasing an additional 8,887 shares during the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its holdings in General Mills by 59.5% during the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 108,126 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,840,000 after purchasing an additional 40,324 shares during the last quarter. AXA S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 3.7% during the second quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 340,430 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,536,000 after buying an additional 12,128 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 6.4% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,157,232 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,206,000 after buying an additional 69,902 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other General Mills news, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total value of $63,660.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,465,007.58. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,716,546.50. This trade represents a 2.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on General Mills from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on General Mills from $78.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America upgraded General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $78.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $70.94.

General Mills Stock Performance

NYSE:GIS opened at $60.37 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $33.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 0.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $63.31 and its 200-day moving average is $67.38. General Mills, Inc. has a 1-year low of $57.94 and a 1-year high of $75.90.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.25 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.42 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.98%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.17%.

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.