First City Capital Management Inc. Acquires 347 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

First City Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 9.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,837 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 347 shares during the period. First City Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $245,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in General Mills by 1.1% during the third quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,532 shares of the company’s stock worth $999,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators lifted its holdings in General Mills by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 3,261 shares of the company’s stock valued at $206,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its position in General Mills by 1.1% in the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 14,854 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,097,000 after buying an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in General Mills by 0.8% during the second quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 21,629 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,368,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of General Mills by 1.7% in the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,604 shares of the company’s stock valued at $783,000 after buying an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In other General Mills news, CAO Mark A. Pallot sold 8,083 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.28, for a total value of $576,156.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 14,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,055,870.64. The trade was a 35.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.61, for a total value of $3,190,365.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 355,328 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,379,054.08. This represents a 11.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 56,624 shares of company stock worth $3,897,326 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of GIS stock traded up $0.38 on Friday, reaching $63.92. The company had a trading volume of 1,340,348 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,265,019. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.23 billion, a PE ratio of 15.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. The business’s 50-day moving average is $65.36 and its 200 day moving average is $67.92. General Mills, Inc. has a one year low of $61.47 and a one year high of $75.90.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.85% and a net margin of 12.14%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.25 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.5 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 paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.17%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on GIS shares. Citigroup decreased their price objective on General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of General Mills from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, General Mills presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.56.

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.