Avanza Fonder AB Invests $3.68 Million in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Avanza Fonder AB bought a new stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 57,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,676,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in General Mills by 6.4% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 589,423 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,287,000 after purchasing an additional 35,680 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 3.3% in the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 240,598 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,220,000 after buying an additional 7,602 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. lifted its position in shares of General Mills by 19.8% during the 2nd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 27,548 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,743,000 after buying an additional 4,551 shares in the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL grew its stake in shares of General Mills by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 131,257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,303,000 after acquiring an additional 632 shares during the period. Finally, Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co increased its holdings in General Mills by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 48,395 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,061,000 after acquiring an additional 1,350 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GIS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Citigroup cut their price target on General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays lowered their price objective on General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on General Mills from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, General Mills currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.31.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.61, for a total value of $3,190,365.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 355,328 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,379,054.08. This represents a 11.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total value of $63,660.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 23,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,465,007.58. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 48,541 shares of company stock valued at $3,321,170. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

General Mills Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GIS opened at $59.64 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $63.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $67.52. General Mills, Inc. has a 52 week low of $57.94 and a 52 week high of $75.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.97, a PEG ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.11.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.25 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.17%.

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.