O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC Buys 85,612 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 11.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 834,417 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 85,612 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $53,211,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of General Mills by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,630,598 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,376,573,000 after acquiring an additional 1,868,508 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in General Mills by 9.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,502,737 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,474,177,000 after purchasing an additional 2,867,678 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in General Mills by 64.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,803,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $497,054,000 after buying an additional 3,058,414 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at $496,484,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,731,471 shares of the company’s stock valued at $365,496,000 after buying an additional 670,642 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of General Mills from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on General Mills in a report on Monday, March 24th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $53.00 price objective on the stock. Mizuho dropped their target price on General Mills from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.69.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In other news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $739,635.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 353,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,967,490. This represents a 3.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GIS opened at $59.09 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $59.97 and a 200-day moving average of $64.67. The firm has a market cap of $32.57 billion, a PE ratio of 12.85, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. General Mills, Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.15 and a twelve month high of $75.90.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted 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. 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 quarter last year, the company posted $1.17 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is 52.75%.

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.