General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Shares Bought by ProShare Advisors LLC

ProShare Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 8.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 93,722 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 7,492 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC's holdings in General Mills were worth $5,977,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in General Mills by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,630,598 shares of the company's stock worth $4,376,573,000 after buying an additional 1,868,508 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of General Mills by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,488,451 shares of the company's stock worth $923,907,000 after acquiring an additional 136,895 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in General Mills by 34.5% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 9,123,387 shares of the company's stock valued at $581,903,000 after purchasing an additional 2,341,137 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in General Mills by 18.4% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,061,793 shares of the company's stock valued at $514,101,000 after purchasing an additional 1,253,483 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in General Mills during the fourth quarter worth approximately $496,484,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on GIS shares. UBS Group started coverage on shares of General Mills in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. They issued a "sell" rating and a $54.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on General Mills in a research note on Monday, March 24th. They set an "underweight" rating and a $53.00 price target for the company. Mizuho cut their price objective on General Mills from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on General Mills from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $64.69.

General Mills Stock Up 1.4%

NYSE GIS opened at $55.14 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. General Mills, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $52.93 and a fifty-two week high of $75.90. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $57.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $60.76. The stock has a market cap of $30.39 billion, a PE ratio of 11.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.05.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.04. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The business had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.99 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.17 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $739,635.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,346 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,967,490. This represents a 3.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.26% of the company's stock.

General Mills Company 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.

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