Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Increases Holdings in General Mills, Inc. $GIS

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,780 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 592 shares during the quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $559,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. Garde Capital Inc. increased its stake in General Mills by 101.5% during the second quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 524 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new stake in General Mills during the second quarter worth $32,000. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in General Mills during the first quarter worth $34,000. GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. acquired a new stake in General Mills during the first quarter worth $34,000. Finally, MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new stake in General Mills during the first quarter worth $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jacqueline Williams-Roll sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.04, for a total transaction of $200,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 66,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,332,313.72. The trade was a 5.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on GIS shares. Barclays cut their target price on General Mills from $54.00 to $52.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on General Mills from $51.00 to $50.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Bank of America cut their target price on General Mills from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised General Mills from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $67.00 to $63.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, HSBC dropped their price objective on General Mills from $59.00 to $57.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, General Mills has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.82.

General Mills Trading Down 2.5%

Shares of NYSE GIS opened at $47.95 on Friday. General Mills, Inc. has a twelve month low of $47.48 and a twelve month high of $69.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.58 billion, a PE ratio of 9.06, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of -0.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $49.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $52.06.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, September 17th. The company reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.04. General Mills had a return on equity of 23.46% and a net margin of 15.24%.The firm had revenue of $4.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.07 EPS. General Mills’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. General Mills’s payout ratio is presently 46.12%.

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.