Nordea Investment Management AB Makes New $4.46 Million Investment in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Nordea Investment Management AB acquired a new stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 216,550 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,461,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,159,076 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,971,000 after buying an additional 259,216 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC grew its holdings in Flowers Foods by 85.0% in the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 72,886 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,681,000 after purchasing an additional 33,480 shares during the period. Thomasville National Bank increased its stake in Flowers Foods by 30.2% in the third quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 429,014 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,897,000 after purchasing an additional 99,599 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 94.7% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 180,227 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,158,000 after acquiring an additional 87,654 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Martingale Asset Management L P bought a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods during the third quarter worth about $1,571,000. Institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

Shares of Flowers Foods stock opened at $19.01 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.39. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 12 month low of $18.98 and a 12 month high of $26.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $21.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.22.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 4.70% and a return on equity of 19.41%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.29 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.27 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.05%. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is 84.21%.

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.