Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Increases Stock Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd boosted its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 111.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 34,721 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 18,289 shares during the quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings in General Mills were worth $2,214,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GIS. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 3,058,414 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings 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 during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 9.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,502,737 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,474,177,000 after buying an additional 2,867,678 shares during the last quarter. Nepsis Inc. raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 3,504.8% in the fourth quarter. Nepsis Inc. now owns 2,164,395 shares of the company’s stock valued at $138,023,000 after buying an additional 2,104,353 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 6,114.0% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 450,451 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,266,000 after buying an additional 443,202 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on GIS shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total value of $67,144.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at $2,716,546.50. This represents a 2.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

General Mills Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of GIS opened at $61.32 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $60.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $66.48. General Mills, Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.15 and a twelve month high of $75.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.33, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.10.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its earnings results 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. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.25 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders 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 yield of 3.91%. General Mills’s payout ratio is currently 52.17%.

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.