Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Sells 802 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. reduced its position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 191,788 shares of the company’s stock after selling 802 shares during the quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $12,230,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,630,598 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,376,573,000 after purchasing an additional 1,868,508 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in General Mills by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,502,737 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,474,177,000 after buying an additional 2,867,678 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew 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 buying an additional 3,058,414 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of General Mills during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $496,484,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,731,471 shares of the company’s stock valued at $365,496,000 after acquiring an additional 670,642 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GIS. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased 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. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Citigroup decreased their target price on General Mills from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. One equities 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 company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $65.69.

Insider Transactions at General Mills

In related news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total value of $739,635.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 353,346 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,967,490. This trade represents a 3.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Trading Down 1.0 %

NYSE:GIS opened at $59.09 on Monday. General Mills, Inc. has a 52 week low of $55.15 and a 52 week high of $75.90. The stock has a market cap of $32.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.85, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $59.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $64.61. 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) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4.84 billion during 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 quarter last year, the company earned $1.17 EPS. On average, equities research 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s payout ratio is presently 52.75%.

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.