160,600 Shares in General Mills, Inc. $GIS Acquired by Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp.

Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 160,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,468,000. General Mills accounts for about 5.3% of Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp lifted its stake in General Mills by 0.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,717,972 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,700,060,000 after buying an additional 145,701 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of General Mills by 15.9% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 9,956,665 shares of the company’s stock worth $494,548,000 after acquiring an additional 1,368,041 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 13.0% in 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. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 22.2% in 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. Finally, Capital World Investors lifted its position in General Mills by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 5,585,110 shares of the company’s stock valued at $281,601,000 after purchasing an additional 16,028 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GIS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of General Mills from $47.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Wells Fargo & Company cut General Mills from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $35.00 to $33.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on General Mills from $47.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Zacks Research lowered General Mills from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on General Mills from $46.00 to $43.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Mills presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $43.44.

General Mills Trading Up 2.4%

Shares of GIS stock opened at $35.32 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $44.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.63 and a beta of 0.01. General Mills, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $34.04 and a fifty-two week high of $58.45. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 18th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.73 by ($0.09). General Mills had a return on equity of 19.19% and a net margin of 12.05%.The business had revenue of $4.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.53 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.12 earnings per share. General Mills’s revenue was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 10th will be issued a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.9%. The ex-dividend date 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.