Legal & General Group Plc Sells 312,423 Shares of General Mills, Inc. $GIS

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc reduced its stake in General Mills by 7.6% in the fourth quarter, selling 312,423 shares and ending with 3.8 million shares valued at about $176.7 million.
• General Mills has seen mixed sentiment from Wall Street, with analysts trimming price targets and the stock now carrying a consensus “Reduce” rating and an average target price of $42.44.
• The company recently reported weaker-than-expected earnings, posting $0.64 EPS versus $0.73 expected, while revenue also missed estimates and fell 8.4% year over year.

Legal & General Group Plc lessened its stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 7.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,799,364 shares of the company's stock after selling 312,423 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.71% of General Mills worth $176,670,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new position in shares of General Mills in the 2nd quarter valued at $9,188,000. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its stake in shares of General Mills by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 65,118 shares of the company's stock worth $3,374,000 after purchasing an additional 2,552 shares during the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd lifted its stake in shares of General Mills by 112.6% during the 2nd quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 8,971 shares of the company's stock worth $465,000 after purchasing an additional 4,752 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted 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 valued at $4,250,000 after purchasing an additional 3,814 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nebula Research & Development LLC grew its stake in General Mills by 334.2% in the second quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC now owns 19,542 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,012,000 after purchasing an additional 15,041 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on General Mills from $44.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. TD Cowen cut their target price on General Mills from $45.00 to $37.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. UBS Group cut their target price on General Mills from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their target price on General Mills from $53.00 to $48.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on General Mills from $33.00 to $30.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and six have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $42.44.

General Mills Price Performance

NYSE GIS opened at $33.77 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $35.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.12. General Mills, Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.64 and a 1 year high of $55.19. The company has a market cap of $18.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.26 and a beta of -0.02.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In related news, insider Jacqueline Williams-Roll sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.27, for a total value of $342,700.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 86,002 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,947,288.54. This represents a 10.42% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Ricardo Fernandez sold 7,995 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was 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 $2,148,763.50. This represents a 11.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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