Trexquant Investment LP Acquires 123,473 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Trexquant Investment LP increased its holdings in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 51.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 363,319 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 123,473 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP’s holdings in General Mills were worth $23,169,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in shares of General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Bank of Jackson Hole Trust bought a new position in General Mills during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GIS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of General Mills from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered 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. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their target price on General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.69.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In other General Mills news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 353,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,967,490. This represents a 3.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of GIS opened at $59.83 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. General Mills, Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.15 and a twelve month high of $75.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06. The company has a 50 day moving average of $59.97 and a 200-day moving average of $64.52.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.04. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The business had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.99 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.17 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.01%. General Mills’s payout ratio is presently 52.75%.

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.