Moors & Cabot Inc. Acquires New Position in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Moors & Cabot Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 8,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $205,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AMG National Trust Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $711,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 267.5% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 204,371 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,537,000 after buying an additional 148,753 shares in the last quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Flowers Foods during the 1st quarter worth $581,000. Thomasville National Bank boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 30.2% in the 3rd quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 429,014 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,897,000 after buying an additional 99,599 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in Flowers Foods by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,147,242 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,469,000 after acquiring an additional 18,852 shares during the last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

NYSE FLO opened at $22.43 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $20.50 and a fifty-two week high of $26.12. The business has a fifty day moving average of $22.54 and a 200-day moving average of $22.78. The stock has a market cap of $4.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.23 and a beta of 0.36.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last announced its earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.03. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 4.70% and a return on equity of 19.41%. The firm had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.29 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.27 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, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.28%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 84.21%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th.

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.