General Mills, Inc. $GIS Shares Bought by Prudential PLC

Prudential PLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 282.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 325,282 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 240,329 shares during the quarter. Prudential PLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $15,126,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in General Mills during the second quarter worth about $9,188,000. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its position in General Mills by 4.1% during the second quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 65,118 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,374,000 after acquiring an additional 2,552 shares during the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd raised its position in General Mills by 112.6% during the second quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 8,971 shares of the company’s stock worth $465,000 after acquiring an additional 4,752 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its position in General Mills by 4.9% during the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 82,037 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,250,000 after acquiring an additional 3,814 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nebula Research & Development LLC raised its position in General Mills by 334.2% during the second quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC now owns 19,542 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,012,000 after acquiring an additional 15,041 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GIS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of General Mills from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of General Mills from $33.00 to $30.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of General Mills from $38.00 to $32.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 30th. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of General Mills from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, BTIG Research initiated coverage on shares of General Mills in a research report on Monday, April 13th. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and seven have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $39.39.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of GIS stock opened at $33.18 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $34.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.48. The company has a market capitalization of $17.71 billion, a PE ratio of 8.11 and a beta of -0.03. General Mills, Inc. has a twelve month low of $31.75 and a twelve month high of $55.19.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly 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). The business had revenue of $4.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.53 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 12.05% and a return on equity of 19.19%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.12 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 3.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at General Mills

In related news, insider Jacqueline Williams-Roll sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.27, for a total value of $342,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 86,002 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,947,288.54. This represents a 10.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Ricardo Fernandez sold 7,995 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.50, for a total value of $275,827.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 62,283 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,148,763.50. This represents a 11.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Company 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.