Allianz SE Invests $743,000 in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Allianz SE acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 11,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $743,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of General Mills by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the company’s stock valued at $304,000 after buying an additional 268 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in 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 during the period. J2 Capital Management Inc purchased a new stake in General Mills in the 4th quarter worth approximately $547,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in General Mills by 15.7% in the 4th 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 period. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in shares of General Mills by 7.1% during the 4th 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of General Mills stock opened at $59.09 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.67. General Mills, Inc. has a one year low of $55.15 and a one year high of $75.90. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $59.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $64.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06.

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

General Mills Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

GIS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on General Mills from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of General Mills in a research note on Monday, March 24th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $53.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price objective 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. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $65.69.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In other news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total value of $739,635.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,346 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,967,490. This trade represents a 3.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.