Invesco Ltd. Purchases 924,982 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 18.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,989,111 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 924,982 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd. owned approximately 1.09% of General Mills worth $381,926,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of GIS. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in General Mills during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in General Mills during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Bank of Jackson Hole Trust bought a new position in shares of General Mills during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GIS opened at $58.16 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $32.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.64, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.15. 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 fifty-two week low of $55.15 and a fifty-two week high of $75.90. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $59.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $63.67.

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

General Mills Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.13%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.75%.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In related news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $739,635.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,346 shares of the company’s stock, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GIS. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on General Mills in a report on Monday, March 24th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $53.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of General Mills from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, General Mills currently has a consensus 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.