Choreo LLC Purchases 1,829 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Choreo LLC grew its position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 7.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 26,377 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,829 shares during the period. Choreo LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $1,675,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of GIS. Czech National Bank grew its position in shares of General Mills by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 113,389 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,374,000 after acquiring an additional 5,808 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. grew its position in shares of General Mills by 65.2% in the 3rd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 4,750 shares of the company’s stock valued at $351,000 after acquiring an additional 1,875 shares during the period. Atomi Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of General Mills by 18.7% in the 3rd quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,898 shares of the company’s stock valued at $436,000 after acquiring an additional 931 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 15,234 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,125,000 after buying an additional 1,821 shares during the period. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 13,174 shares of the company’s stock worth $958,000 after buying an additional 518 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In related news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The stock was 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 $2,716,546.50. This trade represents a 2.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total value of $63,660.00. Following the completion of 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 currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on GIS. Bank of America raised shares of General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $78.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $78.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Citigroup reduced 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. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, General Mills has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.94.

General Mills Stock Performance

NYSE GIS opened at $58.86 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $62.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.80, a P/E/G ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 0.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. General Mills, Inc. has a 1 year low of $57.94 and a 1 year high of $75.90.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued 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 return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.25 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.08%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.