Marshall Wace LLP Purchases New Shares in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new position in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 20,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $453,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cooke & Bieler LP lifted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 73.1% in the second quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 5,301,518 shares of the company’s stock worth $117,694,000 after acquiring an additional 2,239,592 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 5,851,682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $129,907,000 after buying an additional 242,797 shares during the last quarter. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods during the first quarter worth approximately $4,644,000. Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 139.9% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 289,804 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,434,000 after buying an additional 169,019 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Flowers Foods by 4.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,720,302 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,592,000 after acquiring an additional 160,794 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Flowers Foods Stock Down 0.5 %

NYSE:FLO opened at $22.50 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.75 billion, a PE ratio of 38.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.43 and a beta of 0.36. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 52 week low of $19.64 and a 52 week high of $26.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $22.97 and a 200-day moving average of $23.15.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 16th. The company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.24 billion. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 18.97% and a net margin of 2.51%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.33 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.26 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.27%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 162.71%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on FLO shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. BNP Paribas began coverage on Flowers Foods in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $20.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.75.

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.