Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co Makes New Investment in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co purchased a new position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 55,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,507,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. Wedbush Securities Inc. raised its position in General Mills by 11.3% in the 4th quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 13,495 shares of the company's stock valued at $861,000 after purchasing an additional 1,374 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 641,045 shares of the company's stock valued at $40,879,000 after buying an additional 50,987 shares during the last quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 193,885 shares of the company's stock worth $12,364,000 after buying an additional 14,460 shares during the period. Aviva PLC grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 817,846 shares of the company's stock worth $52,154,000 after buying an additional 63,536 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at about $15,806,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GIS has been the topic of several analyst reports. Mizuho lowered their target price on General Mills from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target 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 equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $65.69.

General Mills Price Performance

General Mills stock traded up $0.78 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $57.95. The stock had a trading volume of 1,493,421 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,393,473. General Mills, Inc. has a 1-year low of $55.15 and a 1-year high of $75.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.60, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.15. The stock's fifty day moving average is $59.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $63.55. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.99 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The firm's revenue was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.17 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.14%. General Mills's dividend payout ratio is currently 52.75%.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In other news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,346 shares in the company, valued at $22,967,490. This represents a 3.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About General Mills

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.