Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. Reduces Stock Holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. decreased its position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 4.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 109,733 shares of the company's stock after selling 4,913 shares during the quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A.'s holdings in General Mills were worth $6,985,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. MGO One Seven LLC raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 33,342 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,126,000 after purchasing an additional 1,247 shares in the last quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. increased its holdings in General Mills by 481.4% in the fourth quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. now owns 450,855 shares of the company's stock valued at $28,751,000 after buying an additional 373,303 shares during the last quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in General Mills by 95.6% during the 4th quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 9,329 shares of the company's stock worth $595,000 after buying an additional 4,559 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in General Mills by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,921,255 shares of the company's stock worth $122,212,000 after buying an additional 115,221 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of General Mills by 29.6% during the 4th quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,198 shares of the company's stock worth $842,000 after acquiring an additional 3,012 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on GIS. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a report on Monday, March 17th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Citigroup reduced their price target 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on General Mills from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $65.00.

General Mills Stock Performance

Shares of GIS stock traded up $0.45 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $56.20. The stock had a trading volume of 3,275,376 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,398,817. The firm has a market cap of $30.98 billion, a PE ratio of 12.22, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.15. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $59.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $62.16. 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 fifty-two week low of $55.08 and a fifty-two week high of $75.90.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. 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 firm's revenue for the quarter was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.17 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were 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 trade represents a 3.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

General Mills Company 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.