General Mills buying Blue Buffalo Pet Products for $8B US

Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of Blue Buffalo Pet Products by 9.6% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,070 shares of the company's stock worth $138,000 after purchasing an additional 533 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Blue Buffalo Pet Products by 62.9% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 490,499 shares of the company's stock worth $11,188,000 after buying an additional 60,116 shares during the period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.41, for a total transaction of $103,063.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider William W. Bishop, Jr. sold 21,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.70, for a total transaction of $650,840.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Advisor Group Inc. now owns 4,513 shares of the company's stock worth $103,000 after acquiring an additional 277 shares during the period.

Shares of Blue Buffalo Pet Products (BUFF) traded up $5.88 on Friday, hitting $40.00. Blue Buffalo Pet Products has a 52-week low of $21.51 and a 52-week high of $40.08. The company has a market capitalization of $7,810.52, a PE ratio of 41.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 3.62 and a current ratio of 4.22.

Blue Buffalo Pet Products (NASDAQ:BUFF) announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday. The company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters' consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.06, Bloomberg Earnings reports.

"In pet food, as in human food, consumers are seeking more natural and premium products and we have tremendous respect for how attentive Blue Buffalo has been to the needs of their consumers", General Mills chief executive officer Jeff Harmening said in a statement. The business had revenue of $336.96 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $320.58 million.

While U.S. retail pet food sales rose 3.7 per cent a year ago, overall packaged food sales climbed 1.2 per cent, according to research firm Euromonitor. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.18 earnings per share. equities research analysts anticipate that Blue Buffalo Pet Products Inc will post 1.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BUFF has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. BidaskClub lowered shares of Blue Buffalo Pet Products from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, December 15th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Blue Buffalo Pet Products from $33.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Co upgraded Blue Buffalo Pet Products to a "buy" rating and set a $36.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 8th. Oppenheimer restated a "buy" rating and issued a $37.00 price objective on shares of Blue Buffalo Pet Products in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Susquehanna Bancshares set a $41.00 price objective on Blue Buffalo Pet Products and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 28th. The company now has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $33.85.

General Mills will pay $40 USA per Blue Buffalo share, representing a premium of 17.2 per cent to the pet food company's Thursday closing price. If you are reading this report on another domain, it was illegally stolen and reposted in violation of USA and worldwide trademark & copyright laws. Vigilant Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Blue Buffalo Pet Products by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. The Company, through its subsidiaries, develops, produces, markets and sells pet food under product lines, including BLUE Life Protection Formula, BLUE Wilderness, BLUE Basics, BLUE Freedom and BLUE Natural Veterinary Diet lines.