General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Shares Sold by White Pine Capital LLC

White Pine Capital LLC decreased its position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 22,896 shares of the company’s stock after selling 553 shares during the period. White Pine Capital LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $1,491,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GIS. Cetera Trust Company N.A acquired a new stake in General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at about $50,000. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in General Mills by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,278 shares of the company’s stock valued at $722,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new stake in General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Sabal Trust CO raised its position in General Mills by 7,817.6% in the 4th quarter. Sabal Trust CO now owns 290,179 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,902,000 after purchasing an additional 286,514 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gradient Investments LLC raised its position in General Mills by 29.9% in the 4th quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 2,238 shares of the company’s stock valued at $146,000 after purchasing an additional 515 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Stock Performance

Shares of GIS stock traded down $0.55 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $70.83. The company had a trading volume of 4,170,378 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,758,869. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $67.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $65.58. The stock has a market cap of $40.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.25, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.15. General Mills, Inc. has a 52-week low of $60.33 and a 52-week high of $90.89.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 20th. The company reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $5.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.97 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.84% and a net margin of 12.66%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.97 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.33%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on GIS shares. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $77.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a report on Monday, April 22nd. HSBC increased their price objective on General Mills from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Citigroup started coverage on General Mills in a report on Thursday, February 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $67.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on General Mills from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on General Mills from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $72.18.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jonathon Nudi sold 10,000 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction on Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.21, for a total transaction of $692,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 93,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,462,899.01. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 17,726 shares of company stock valued at $1,187,811. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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 salty snacks, ice cream and frozen desserts, nutrition bars, and savory snacks, as well as various organic products, including frozen and shelf-stable vegetables.