Martingale Asset Management L P Grows Holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Martingale Asset Management L P increased its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 68.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,910 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 7,662 shares during the period. Martingale Asset Management L P’s holdings in General Mills were worth $1,206,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in General Mills by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,630,598 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,376,573,000 after acquiring an additional 1,868,508 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in General Mills by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,488,451 shares of the company’s stock worth $923,907,000 after purchasing an additional 136,895 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in General Mills by 64.5% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at about $496,484,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in General Mills by 18.3% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,989,111 shares of the company’s stock valued at $381,926,000 after buying an additional 924,982 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

General Mills Stock Up 1.3 %

GIS opened at $57.92 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.67. General Mills, Inc. has a 12 month low of $55.15 and a 12 month high of $75.90. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $59.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $63.44. The stock has a market cap of $31.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.15.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $4.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.99 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.17 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.14%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.75%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 353,346 shares in the company, valued at $22,967,490. This represents a 3.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GIS shares. Mizuho lowered their price target on General Mills from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of General Mills from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, General Mills currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.69.

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.