Kovack Advisors Inc. Boosts Stock Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Kovack Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 4.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,505 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 749 shares during the period. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $1,075,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of GIS. Operose Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in General Mills by 214.1% in the third quarter. Operose Advisors LLC now owns 402 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 274 shares during the period. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new stake in General Mills in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of General Mills during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of General Mills during the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC bought a new position in shares of General Mills during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $77.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of General Mills from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of General Mills from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $72.18.

General Mills Stock Performance

GIS stock traded down $0.55 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 stock’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 P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.15. General Mills, Inc. has a 12-month low of $60.33 and a 12-month high of $90.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14.

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

General Mills Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jonathon Nudi sold 7,671 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.15, for a total value of $492,094.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 102,924 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,602,574.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In the last quarter, insiders sold 17,726 shares of company stock valued at $1,187,811. Company insiders own 0.24% 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 salty snacks, ice cream and frozen desserts, nutrition bars, and savory snacks, as well as various organic products, including frozen and shelf-stable vegetables.