Diversify Advisory Services LLC Sells 3,046 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Diversify Advisory Services LLC lowered its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 19.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,562 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,046 shares during the quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $735,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 1.1% during the third quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $999,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its holdings in General Mills by 1.1% in the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 14,854 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,097,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 0.8% during the second quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 21,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,368,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of General Mills by 1.7% during the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,604 shares of the company’s stock worth $783,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of General Mills by 2.6% during the second quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 6,789 shares of the company’s stock worth $428,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on GIS shares. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on General Mills from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on General Mills from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America upgraded General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $78.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.31.

General Mills Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of GIS stock opened at $60.08 on Wednesday. General Mills, Inc. has a 1 year low of $57.94 and a 1 year high of $75.90. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $63.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $67.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.06, a PEG ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.11.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.18. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.14 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.25 earnings per share. General Mills’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.42 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is 52.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total transaction of $67,144.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,716,546.50. This trade represents a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total transaction of $63,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,465,007.58. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

General Mills 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.