Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Purchases 736,283 Shares of General Mills, Inc. $GIS

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 2,806.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 762,517 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 736,283 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.14% of General Mills worth $35,457,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 0.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,717,972 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,700,060,000 after buying an additional 145,701 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in General Mills by 15.9% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 9,956,665 shares of the company’s stock valued at $494,548,000 after buying an additional 1,368,041 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in General Mills in the second quarter valued at approximately $417,508,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in General Mills by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,664,990 shares of the company’s stock worth $386,469,000 after acquiring an additional 883,150 shares during the period. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in General Mills by 22.2% during the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,628,421 shares of the company’s stock worth $384,625,000 after acquiring an additional 1,383,913 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on GIS shares. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on General Mills from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on General Mills from $42.00 to $36.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on General Mills from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered General Mills from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $45.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on General Mills from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and six have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $44.61.

General Mills Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of NYSE GIS opened at $36.14 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $43.92 and its 200-day moving average is $46.35. The stock has a market cap of $19.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.84 and a beta of -0.05. General Mills, Inc. has a twelve month low of $35.63 and a twelve month high of $62.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 18th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by ($0.09). General Mills had a net margin of 12.05% and a return on equity of 19.19%. The firm had revenue of $4.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.53 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.12 EPS. General Mills’s quarterly revenue was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 10th will be paid a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 10th. General Mills’s payout ratio is presently 59.66%.

About General Mills

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.