For Minnesota’s very biggest companies, 2014 was a very big year.

Most Fortune 500 corporations based in Minnesota scored double-digit stock gains, outpacing the broader market indexes. But beyond the giants, returns were more mixed.

The corporate giants showed strength in many sectors: in medical, where shares of UnitedHealth Group rose 34 percent in 2014 and Medtronic gained 26 percent.

— In retailing, where shares of Target rose 20 percent and Supervalu rose 33 percent.

— In finance, where Ameriprise Financial rose 15 percent and U.S. Bancorp rose 11 percent.

— In business services, where shares of C.H. Robinson rose 28 percent and Deluxe rose 19 percent.

— In manufacturing, where 3M shares climbed 17 percent. And utilities, as Xcel Energy leapt 29 percent.

Not every Minnesota corporate giant scored gains in 2014. Shares retreated for commodity players like fertilizer-maker Mosaic, down 3 percent for the year.

The plunge of oil prices hurt oil-patch companies. But it turbocharged major fuel users like Delta Air Lines, whose stock rose 79 percent in 2014. Delta has headquarters in Atlanta but retains a large presence in the Twin Cities.

Big gains were evident in other corporations with Minnesota roots that are now based elsewhere: Travelers Cos. shares rose 17 percent last year, Wells Fargo shares rose 21 percent, and Honeywell topped them all with a 100 percent gain.

Still, Minnesota’s 2014 stock gains were much more mixed beyond the corporate giants. Despite the bullish market, share prices slid on nearly one-third of the significant publicly traded companies in Minnesota.

Some reflected unique factors. St. Paul-based Great Northern Iron Ore Properties is a century-old trust now winding down its business, and its 2014 share prices reflect that, down 80 percent.

Northern Oil and Gas, a Wayzata-based oil-exploration company active in the Bakken oil fields of North Dakota, was hammered by the plunge of oil prices.

And Best Buy shares fell 2 percent for the year after a roller-coaster year that began with a frightful plunge last January, then a long climb back.

All share prices are based on 2014 trading, from the market’s January opening prices through the Dec. 31 close.