Avanza Fonder AB Buys Shares of 57,652 General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Avanza Fonder AB acquired a new position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 57,652 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,676,000.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Values First Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of General Mills in the third quarter worth $27,000. Planning Capital Management Corp grew its stake in General Mills by 61.5% in the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 507 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new position in General Mills in the 2nd quarter worth about $42,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills during the 3rd quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 46.7% during the 3rd quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 606 shares of the company's stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GIS. Citigroup decreased their price objective 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, December 19th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $71.31.

General Mills Price Performance

NYSE:GIS traded up $0.48 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $59.64. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,458,301 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,010,859. 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 has a fifty day moving average of $63.76 and a 200-day moving average of $67.49. The company has a market capitalization of $32.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.97, a P/E/G ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.11. General Mills, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $57.94 and a fifty-two week high of $75.90.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business 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 company earned $1.25 EPS. General Mills's revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.02%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. General Mills's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.17%.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In other news, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total transaction of $63,660.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,465,007.58. This represents a 4.16 % 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. Also, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.61, for a total transaction of $3,190,365.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 355,328 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $24,379,054.08. This represents a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 48,541 shares of company stock valued at $3,321,170 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.26% of the company's stock.

General Mills 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.