American Century Companies Inc. Increases Stock Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 13.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,731,471 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 670,642 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned 1.04% of General Mills worth $365,496,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in General Mills during the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Bank of Jackson Hole Trust bought a new position in General Mills during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other General Mills news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the business'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 transaction of $739,635.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 353,346 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $22,967,490. The trade was a 3.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company's stock.

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General Mills Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE:GIS traded up $1.26 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $59.05. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,204,060 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,116,492. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $59.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $64.93. General Mills, Inc. has a 52 week low of $55.15 and a 52 week high of $75.90. The company has a market capitalization of $32.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06. 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 (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4.84 billion for 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 for the quarter was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.17 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given 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%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen decreased their target price 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. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Bank of America cut their target price on General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Barclays decreased their price target on General Mills from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of 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 given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average 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.