Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Increases Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 8.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 900,591 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 73,867 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned about 0.16% of General Mills worth $57,530,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in General Mills by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the company’s stock worth $304,000 after buying an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of General Mills by 105.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company’s stock worth $421,552,000 after acquiring an additional 2,926,232 shares in the last quarter. J2 Capital Management Inc purchased a new stake in General Mills during the fourth quarter worth approximately $547,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 4,839 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in General Mills by 15.7% in the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 43,114 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,749,000 after purchasing an additional 5,853 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Mills news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,967,490. This trade represents a 3.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GIS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. 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. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of General Mills from $84.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on General Mills from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. One 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, General Mills currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $65.69.

General Mills Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of General Mills stock opened at $59.09 on Friday. General Mills, Inc. has a one year low of $55.15 and a one year high of $75.90. The company has a market cap of $32.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.85, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.92. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $59.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $64.74.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.04. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The firm had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.99 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.17 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.06%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio 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.