General Mills, Inc. $GIS Shares Acquired by National Pension Service

National Pension Service increased its position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 10.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,014,740 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 98,018 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in General Mills were worth $47,185,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GIS. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC acquired a new position in General Mills in the second quarter worth about $84,862,000. Two Sigma Investments LP grew its stake in General Mills by 82.8% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 3,415,818 shares of the company’s stock worth $172,226,000 after purchasing an additional 1,546,993 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in General Mills by 22.2% in the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,628,421 shares of the company’s stock worth $384,625,000 after purchasing an additional 1,383,913 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management grew its stake in General Mills by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,033,350 shares of the company’s stock worth $187,551,000 after purchasing an additional 986,050 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in General Mills by 13.0% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,664,990 shares of the company’s stock worth $386,469,000 after purchasing an additional 883,150 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on GIS. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on General Mills from $33.00 to $30.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Zacks Research downgraded General Mills from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price target on General Mills from $53.00 to $48.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on General Mills from $38.00 to $32.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on General Mills from $47.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and six have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $41.78.

General Mills Stock Performance

Shares of GIS stock opened at $33.82 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The business has a 50 day moving average of $35.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.94. General Mills, Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.64 and a 52 week high of $55.19. The company has a market cap of $18.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.27 and a beta of -0.03.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, March 18th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by ($0.09). General Mills had a net margin of 12.05% and a return on equity of 19.19%. The company had revenue of $4.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.53 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.12 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 3.43 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Jacqueline Williams-Roll sold 10,000 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.27, for a total transaction of $342,700.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 86,002 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,947,288.54. The trade was a 10.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Ricardo Fernandez sold 7,995 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.50, for a total value of $275,827.50. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 62,283 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,148,763.50. This trade represents a 11.38% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Profile

General Mills, Inc (NYSE: GIS) is a multinational consumer foods company that develops, manufactures and markets a broad portfolio of branded food products. Its product categories include ready-to-eat and hot cereals, baking mixes and ingredients, snacks and bars, refrigerated and frozen doughs, yogurt and other dairy products, and a variety of shelf-stable meals and meal components. The company’s portfolio features widely recognized consumer brands across grocery store, mass channel and foodservice outlets.

Founded in the early 20th century and incorporated under its current name in 1928, General Mills has grown through both internal brand development and strategic expansion to become a global food company.