Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Shares Sold by Versor Investments LP

Versor Investments LP cut its stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 10.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 17,400 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,940 shares during the period. Versor Investments LP’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $386,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of FLO. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 400.8% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 62,622 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,410,000 after acquiring an additional 50,117 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Flowers Foods by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 500,654 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,270,000 after purchasing an additional 34,189 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,880,785 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,336,000 after buying an additional 65,691 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in Flowers Foods by 129.5% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 138,011 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,107,000 after acquiring an additional 77,883 shares during the period. Finally, Econ Financial Services Corp raised its stake in Flowers Foods by 37.1% during the 4th quarter. Econ Financial Services Corp now owns 45,807 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,031,000 after acquiring an additional 12,389 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FLO has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded Flowers Foods from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Flowers Foods in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $20.00 target price for the company. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.75.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

Flowers Foods stock opened at $23.67 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.19. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a one year low of $19.64 and a one year high of $26.12. The business has a fifty day moving average of $22.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $23.10. The company has a market cap of $5.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.36.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 16th. The company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.24 billion. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 2.51% and a return on equity of 18.97%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.33 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

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 issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.06%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 162.71%.

Flowers Foods Company Profile

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.