Janus Henderson Group PLC Grows Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 5.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 90,678 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 5,090 shares during the quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC's holdings in General Mills were worth $5,781,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of General Mills from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of General Mills from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $64.69.

General Mills Stock Performance

NYSE:GIS traded down $1.46 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $53.33. The stock had a trading volume of 5,566,731 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,522,599. The stock has a market cap of $29.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.92. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $57.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $60.62. General Mills, Inc. has a 12-month low of $52.93 and a 12-month high of $75.90.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 EPS 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 company had revenue of $4.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.99 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.17 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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 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.