Vinva Investment Management Ltd Reduces Stock Holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Vinva Investment Management Ltd lowered its position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 47.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,737 shares of the company’s stock after selling 11,287 shares during the quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in General Mills were worth $807,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of General Mills by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the company’s stock valued at $304,000 after buying an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of General Mills by 105.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $421,552,000 after buying an additional 2,926,232 shares in the last quarter. J2 Capital Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at $547,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in shares of General Mills by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 72,949 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,652,000 after buying an additional 4,839 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GIS. Bank of America dropped their price target on General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on General Mills from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $66.76.

General Mills Stock Performance

NYSE GIS opened at $58.31 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06. General Mills, Inc. has a 1-year low of $55.15 and a 1-year high of $75.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $59.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $65.37.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $4.99 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The company’s revenue was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.17 EPS. Equities analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.12%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.17%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $22,967,490. This trade represents a 3.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

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.