American Century Companies Inc. Sells 688,357 Shares of General Mills, Inc. $GIS

American Century Companies Inc. decreased its holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 20.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,662,880 shares of the company’s stock after selling 688,357 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 0.49% of General Mills worth $137,964,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in General Mills by 0.8% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,346,225 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,592,828,000 after buying an additional 581,045 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of General Mills by 434.8% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 19,041,194 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,138,473,000 after acquiring an additional 15,480,835 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in General Mills by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,173,940 shares of the company’s stock valued at $786,954,000 after acquiring an additional 170,587 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in General Mills by 8.1% in the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 9,864,819 shares of the company’s stock worth $589,814,000 after purchasing an additional 741,432 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in General Mills by 4.8% in the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,588,624 shares of the company’s stock valued at $443,173,000 after purchasing an additional 393,135 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GIS has been the topic of several analyst reports. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of General Mills from $57.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of General Mills in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $45.00 target price (down from $53.00) on shares of General Mills in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on General Mills from $49.00 to $48.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 15th. Finally, Zacks Research raised General Mills from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Mills currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Jacqueline Williams-Roll sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.04, for a total value of $200,160.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 66,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,332,313.72. This represents a 5.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Stock Down 2.7%

NYSE:GIS opened at $47.04 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $48.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $50.48. The company has a market capitalization of $25.09 billion, a PE ratio of 8.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of -0.04. General Mills, Inc. has a 1-year low of $45.80 and a 1-year high of $67.40.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 17th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $4.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.52 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 15.24% and a return on equity of 23.46%. General Mills’s revenue was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.07 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 9th will be given a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 9th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.12%.

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.