Swedbank AB Boosts Position in General Mills, Inc. $GIS

Key Points

• Swedbank AB boosted its stake in General Mills by 23.8%, acquiring an additional 146,122 shares to hold 759,497 shares worth $35.3 million (about 0.14% of the company) at quarter-end.
• Multiple analysts have cut price targets and ratings recently, leaving a consensus analyst rating of "Reduce" and a consensus price target of $43.22 for GIS.
• General Mills missed quarterly expectations, reporting $0.64 EPS versus $0.73 expected and $4.44 billion in revenue versus $4.53 billion expected, with revenue down 8.4% year‑over‑year.

Swedbank AB boosted its position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 23.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 759,497 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 146,122 shares during the quarter. Swedbank AB owned 0.14% of General Mills worth $35,317,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

GIS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Mizuho reduced their price target on General Mills from $47.00 to $39.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on General Mills from $45.00 to $37.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Wells Fargo & Company cut General Mills from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $35.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on General Mills from $38.00 to $32.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on General Mills from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Reduce" and a consensus price target of $43.22.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of General Mills stock opened at $35.73 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $37.97 and a 200 day moving average of $43.48. General Mills, Inc. has a 12 month low of $33.58 and a 12 month high of $55.35. The firm has a market cap of $19.07 billion, a PE ratio of 8.74 and a beta of -0.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last announced 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). 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.53 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.12 earnings per share. General Mills's quarterly revenue was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 3.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.

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