Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Buys Shares of 736,401 General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 736,401 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $46,960,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH owned approximately 0.13% of General Mills at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in GIS. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of General Mills by 1.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,634,280 shares of the company's stock worth $120,691,000 after acquiring an additional 19,290 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of General Mills by 105.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company's stock worth $421,552,000 after acquiring an additional 2,926,232 shares during the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of General Mills by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 6,668 shares of the company's stock worth $425,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in shares of General Mills by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 14,386 shares of the company's stock worth $917,000 after acquiring an additional 706 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in shares of General Mills by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 56,352 shares of the company's stock worth $3,594,000 after acquiring an additional 3,531 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GIS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group initiated coverage on General Mills in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. They set a "sell" rating and a $54.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup lowered their price objective on General Mills from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on General Mills in a report on Monday, March 24th. They issued an "underweight" rating and a $53.00 target price for the company. Barclays lowered their target price on General Mills from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their target price on General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $64.69.

General Mills Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:GIS traded up $0.20 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $54.19. 8,115,716 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,520,667. The stock has a market cap of $29.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. General Mills, Inc. has a 12-month low of $52.39 and a 12-month high of $75.90. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $56.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $59.91.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.04. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The business had revenue of $4.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.99 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.17 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

About General Mills

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.