Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC Lowers Holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,258 shares of the company’s stock after selling 249 shares during the quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $1,228,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in shares of General Mills in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Mutual Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 136.3% in the fourth quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 27,739 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,641,000 after purchasing an additional 15,998 shares during the last quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Mills in the fourth quarter worth $325,000. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 190,498 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,148,000 after purchasing an additional 5,675 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 14.1% in the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 16,952 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,081,000 after purchasing an additional 2,098 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In other General Mills news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total transaction of $67,144.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly 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 SEC, which is available at this link. Also, 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 value of $63,660.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 23,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,465,007.58. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

General Mills Stock Performance

NYSE GIS opened at $60.37 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $33.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 0.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $63.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $67.40. General Mills, Inc. has a twelve month low of $57.94 and a twelve month high of $75.90.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced 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 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 analyst estimates of $5.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.25 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 3.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. General Mills’s payout ratio is presently 52.17%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GIS. Barclays decreased their price target on General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on General Mills from $78.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on General Mills from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $78.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. One investment 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.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $70.94.

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.