Mufg Securities Americas Inc. Makes New $523,000 Investment in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Mufg Securities Americas Inc. acquired a new stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 8,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $523,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC raised its holdings in General Mills by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the company’s stock worth $304,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of General Mills by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 834,417 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,211,000 after buying an additional 85,612 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in General Mills by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 484,550 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,900,000 after acquiring an additional 46,536 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a report on Monday, March 17th. UBS Group initiated coverage on General Mills in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. They set a “sell” rating and a $54.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of General Mills from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on shares of General Mills from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.69.

General Mills Stock Up 2.0%

GIS stock opened at $54.34 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.95 billion, a PE ratio of 11.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.05. The company has a fifty day moving average of $57.57 and a 200-day moving average of $60.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.92. General Mills, Inc. has a one year low of $52.93 and a one year high of $75.90.

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. The company had revenue of $4.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.99 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.17 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Mills news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $739,635.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,346 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through this link. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.