Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Shares Acquired by Edgestream Partners L.P.

Edgestream Partners L.P. lifted its position in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 68.6% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 495,568 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 201,635 shares during the quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P.’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $9,421,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in FLO. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new stake in Flowers Foods in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Flowers Foods in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in Flowers Foods by 617.3% in the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 1,463 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in Flowers Foods by 2,191.6% in the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,177 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 2,082 shares during the period. Finally, Allworth Financial LP increased its position in Flowers Foods by 904.8% in the first quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,502 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 2,253 shares during the period. 75.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Flowers Foods

In related news, Director George E. Deese purchased 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $16.84 per share, for a total transaction of $101,040.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,004,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,764,031.60. This trade represents a 0.30% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director William Jameson Mcfadden purchased 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was bought at an average price of $16.92 per share, with a total value of $50,760.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 532,476 shares in the company, valued at $9,009,493.92. This trade represents a 0.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased 12,000 shares of company stock worth $202,440 in the last quarter. 11.57% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on FLO. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Flowers Foods from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Wall Street Zen cut Flowers Foods from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th.

Flowers Foods Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of FLO stock opened at $15.76 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $16.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $18.09. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $15.46 and a fifty-two week high of $23.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.59 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last announced its earnings results on Friday, May 16th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.03). Flowers Foods had a net margin of 4.49% and a return on equity of 18.91%. The firm had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.60 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.38 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 19th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 5th were given a $0.2475 dividend. This is a positive change from Flowers Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.28%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 91.67%.

Flowers Foods 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.