Natixis Advisors LLC Acquires New Position in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Natixis Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 13,427 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $298,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of FLO. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods in the 4th quarter worth $26,016,000. Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its stake in Flowers Foods by 293.7% during the 4th quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 782,518 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,614,000 after acquiring an additional 583,749 shares during the period. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods in the 4th quarter valued at $5,751,000. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods in the first quarter worth $4,644,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Flowers Foods by 267.5% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 204,371 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,537,000 after purchasing an additional 148,753 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. BNP Paribas started coverage on Flowers Foods in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $20.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com raised Flowers Foods from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price target on Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $22.75.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

FLO stock opened at $23.16 on Friday. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 1 year low of $19.64 and a 1 year high of $26.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.88 billion, a PE ratio of 39.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.36 and a beta of 0.36. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.12.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last issued its earnings results on Friday, August 16th. The company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.03. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 18.97% and a net margin of 2.51%. The company had revenue of $1.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.33 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.15%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 162.71%.

About Flowers Foods

Flowers Foods, Inc produces and markets packaged bakery food products in the United States. Its principal products include fresh breads, buns, rolls, snack items, bagels, English muffins, and tortillas, as well as frozen breads and rolls under the Nature's Own, Dave's Killer Bread, Wonder, Canyon Bakehouse, Mrs.