Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co Takes $3.51 Million Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co purchased a new position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 55,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,507,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $496,484,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of General Mills by 64.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,803,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $497,054,000 after purchasing an additional 3,058,414 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in General Mills by 105.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company’s stock worth $421,552,000 after purchasing an additional 2,926,232 shares in the last quarter. Nepsis Inc. raised its holdings in General Mills by 3,504.8% in the fourth quarter. Nepsis Inc. now owns 2,164,395 shares of the company’s stock worth $138,023,000 after buying an additional 2,104,353 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake 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 worth $4,376,573,000 after buying an additional 1,868,508 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Stock Down 2.2 %

GIS opened at $59.64 on Friday. General Mills, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.15 and a fifty-two week high of $75.90. 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 market cap of $32.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.15. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $59.97 and its 200 day moving average is $64.19.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.99 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.17 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.02%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is 52.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GIS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays decreased their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.69.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In other General Mills news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,967,490. The trade was a 3.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

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.