ING Groep NV Acquires Shares of 71,314 General Mills, Inc. $GIS

ING Groep NV acquired a new stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 71,314 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,316,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $361,552,000. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in General Mills in the second quarter valued at approximately $84,862,000. Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its stake in General Mills by 82.8% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 3,415,818 shares of the company’s stock valued at $172,226,000 after buying an additional 1,546,993 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management lifted its stake in General Mills by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,033,350 shares of the company’s stock valued at $187,551,000 after buying an additional 986,050 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in General Mills by 18.7% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,926,607 shares of the company’s stock valued at $275,587,000 after buying an additional 935,679 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on GIS. Sanford C. Bernstein cut General Mills from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $31.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on General Mills from $44.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $36.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. BTIG Research began coverage on General Mills in a research note on Monday, April 13th. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on General Mills from $37.00 to $32.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and seven have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Mills presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $39.39.

General Mills Price Performance

General Mills stock opened at $33.13 on Tuesday. General Mills, Inc. has a 12 month low of $31.75 and a 12 month high of $55.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.68 billion, a PE ratio of 8.10 and a beta of -0.03.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 18th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.73 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $4.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.53 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 19.19% and a net margin of 12.05%.The company’s revenue was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.12 EPS. Equities analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 3.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In other General Mills news, insider Jacqueline Williams-Roll sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.27, for a total value of $342,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 86,002 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,947,288.54. This represents a 10.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Ricardo Fernandez sold 7,995 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.50, for a total value of $275,827.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 62,283 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,148,763.50. The trade was a 11.38% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Company Profile

General Mills, Inc (NYSE: GIS) is a multinational consumer foods company that develops, manufactures and markets a broad portfolio of branded food products. Its product categories include ready-to-eat and hot cereals, baking mixes and ingredients, snacks and bars, refrigerated and frozen doughs, yogurt and other dairy products, and a variety of shelf-stable meals and meal components. The company’s portfolio features widely recognized consumer brands across grocery store, mass channel and foodservice outlets.

Founded in the early 20th century and incorporated under its current name in 1928, General Mills has grown through both internal brand development and strategic expansion to become a global food company.