Venturi Wealth Management LLC Acquires 20,395 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 6,867.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 20,692 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 20,395 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC's holdings in General Mills were worth $1,320,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in General Mills in the third quarter worth $27,000. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in General Mills in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Planning Capital Management Corp grew its position in General Mills by 61.5% in the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 507 shares of the company's stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in General Mills in the third quarter worth $44,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in General Mills in the fourth quarter worth $38,000. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GIS. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of General Mills from $78.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $69.88.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In related news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total transaction of $67,144.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at $2,716,546.50. This 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 available at the SEC website. 0.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.

General Mills Stock Up 3.1 %

Shares of NYSE:GIS traded up $1.83 during trading on Friday, reaching $61.02. 5,218,456 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,668,790. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $61.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $66.61. General Mills, Inc. has a 52-week low of $55.15 and a 52-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. The stock has a market cap of $33.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.10.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.18. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The firm had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.25 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.93%. General Mills's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.17%.

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.