Nordea Investment Management AB Has $497.05 Million Holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 64.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,803,046 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 3,058,414 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB owned 1.41% of General Mills worth $497,054,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp lifted its stake in General Mills by 9.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,502,737 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,474,177,000 after acquiring an additional 2,867,678 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 105.2% during the 3rd 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 period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 6.1% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,629,943 shares of the company’s stock valued at $356,151,000 after purchasing an additional 323,090 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in General Mills by 2.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,413,585 shares of the company’s stock valued at $342,478,000 after acquiring an additional 148,235 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in General Mills by 100.4% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,728,710 shares of the company’s stock worth $299,138,000 after purchasing an additional 2,368,563 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at General Mills

In related news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total transaction of $67,144.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at $2,716,546.50. This trade represents a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.61, for a total value of $3,190,365.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 355,328 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,379,054.08. This trade represents a 11.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 56,624 shares of company stock valued at $3,897,326. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on GIS shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of General Mills from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America raised General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $78.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.56.

General Mills Price Performance

GIS stock opened at $63.88 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $65.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $67.92. General Mills, Inc. has a 12-month low of $61.47 and a 12-month high of $75.90. The company has a market capitalization of $35.46 billion, a PE ratio of 15.21, a P/E/G ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 0.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. General Mills had a net margin of 12.14% and a return on equity of 26.85%. The firm had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.25 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.76%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is presently 57.14%.

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.