Bridgewater Associates LP Has $11.62 Million Stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Bridgewater Associates LP decreased its holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 51.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 182,179 shares of the company's stock after selling 189,328 shares during the quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP's holdings in General Mills were worth $11,618,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake 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 buying an additional 1,868,508 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of General Mills by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,488,451 shares of the company's stock worth $923,907,000 after purchasing an additional 136,895 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in General Mills by 64.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,803,046 shares of the company's stock valued at $497,054,000 after buying an additional 3,058,414 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of General Mills during the 4th quarter worth about $496,484,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 18.3% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,989,111 shares of the company's stock valued at $381,926,000 after acquiring an additional 924,982 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho reduced their price objective 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. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Citigroup reduced their target price on General Mills from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. Barclays cut their price target on General Mills from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $65.69.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In other news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $739,635.00. Following the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company's stock.

General Mills Price Performance

GIS stock traded up $0.68 on Tuesday, hitting $58.35. 454,597 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,389,635. General Mills, Inc. has a 1-year low of $55.15 and a 1-year high of $75.90. The stock has a market cap of $32.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.15. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $59.46 and a 200-day moving average of $62.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $4.84 billion during 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 business's revenue was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.17 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.11%. General Mills's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.