Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Grows Stock Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp increased its position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 53.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,074,551 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 374,553 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp’s holdings in General Mills were worth $68,524,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in shares of General Mills by 6.9% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 45,028 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,325,000 after buying an additional 2,907 shares in the last quarter. Nwam LLC purchased a new position in General Mills in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $240,000. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 9.2% during the 3rd quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,412 shares of the company’s stock worth $990,000 after purchasing an additional 1,132 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its position in shares of General Mills by 5.1% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 543,580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,143,000 after purchasing an additional 26,453 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 134.2% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 4,476 shares of the company’s stock valued at $331,000 after purchasing an additional 2,565 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

General Mills Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE GIS opened at $57.75 on Wednesday. General Mills, Inc. has a 12-month low of $55.15 and a 12-month high of $75.90. The stock has a market cap of $31.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.55, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $64.93.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 the consensus estimate of $4.99 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.17 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.16%. General Mills’s payout ratio is 52.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GIS has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of General Mills from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Bank of America decreased 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. 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 report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a report on Monday, March 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Mills has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.69.

Insider Transactions at General Mills

In related news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,967,490. This represents a 3.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate 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.