Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Acquires 14,460 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC grew its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 8.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 193,885 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 14,460 shares during the period. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $12,364,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on GIS shares. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of General Mills in a report on Monday, March 24th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $53.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on General Mills from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of General Mills from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target 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. One investment 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 target price of $65.69.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In related news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 owns 353,346 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,967,490. This represents a 3.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Stock Down 2.2 %

NYSE:GIS opened at $59.64 on Monday. 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 $32.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $59.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $64.11.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.99 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.17 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.02%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.