Asset Planning Inc Takes Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Asset Planning Inc purchased a new position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 30,375 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,937,000. General Mills makes up 1.5% of Asset Planning Inc's investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its stake in General Mills by 9,143.2% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,010,000 after buying an additional 13,532 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills in the 3rd quarter valued at $239,000. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 543,580 shares of the company's stock worth $40,143,000 after purchasing an additional 26,453 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. grew its stake in General Mills by 3.1% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 12,365 shares of the company's stock worth $913,000 after buying an additional 371 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SPC Financial Inc. increased its holdings in General Mills by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 12,689 shares of the company's stock valued at $937,000 after purchasing an additional 901 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GIS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays reduced 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. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on General Mills from $78.00 to $72.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Citigroup reduced their price target 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. Bank of America upgraded General Mills from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $78.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $71.13.

General Mills Stock Performance

NYSE:GIS traded down $1.32 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $57.53. 8,365,798 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,732,294. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $61.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $66.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.10. General Mills, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.15 and a fifty-two week high of $75.90. 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 - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.25 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.17%. General Mills's dividend payout ratio is presently 52.17%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.