Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda Purchases Shares of 15,370 Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 15,370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $292,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Flowers Foods by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,737,981 shares of the company’s stock valued at $469,767,000 after purchasing an additional 518,745 shares in the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP increased its stake in Flowers Foods by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 5,612,523 shares of the company’s stock valued at $106,694,000 after purchasing an additional 159,460 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Flowers Foods by 28.2% during the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,381,444 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,521,000 after purchasing an additional 965,097 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Flowers Foods by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,299,631 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,829,000 after purchasing an additional 428,963 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Flowers Foods by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,219,943 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,205,000 after purchasing an additional 60,867 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Flowers Foods

In other Flowers Foods news, Director William Jameson Mcfadden purchased 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $16.92 per share, for a total transaction of $50,760.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 532,476 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,009,493.92. This represents a 0.57% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas Caldecot Chubb III purchased 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $16.88 per share, for a total transaction of $50,640.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 45,861 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $774,133.68. This represents a 7.00% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have acquired 12,000 shares of company stock worth $202,440. 11.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on FLO shares. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Flowers Foods from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Flowers Foods from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

NYSE FLO opened at $16.26 on Friday. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 1 year low of $15.27 and a 1 year high of $23.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market cap of $3.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.05 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $16.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $17.78.

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

Flowers Foods Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 19th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 5th were paid a dividend of $0.2475 per share. This is a boost from Flowers Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.09%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 5th. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.