Mufg Securities Americas Inc. Acquires New Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Mufg Securities Americas Inc. bought a new stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 8,196 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $523,000.

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

General Mills Stock Down 0.6%

GIS traded down $0.33 during trading on Monday, hitting $54.80. 4,160,013 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,496,960. General Mills, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $52.93 and a fifty-two week high of $75.90. The stock has a market cap of $30.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.91, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.05. The business's 50 day moving average is $57.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $60.76. 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 (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $4.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.99 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.17 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Citigroup reduced their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of General Mills from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $64.69.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In other news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,346 shares of the company's stock, valued at $22,967,490. This trade represents a 3.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.