ProShare Advisors LLC Sells 63,836 Shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

ProShare Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 4.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,258,139 shares of the company’s stock after selling 63,836 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.60% of Flowers Foods worth $27,931,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in FLO. Sei Investments Co. lifted 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 acquiring an additional 169,019 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 47.0% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 42,090 shares of the company’s stock valued at $934,000 after purchasing an additional 13,458 shares during the last quarter. Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,034,000. Inspire Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 5.6% during the second quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 15,924 shares of the company’s stock worth $354,000 after buying an additional 842 shares during the period. Finally, MQS Management LLC bought a new position in Flowers Foods during the second quarter worth $643,000. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FLO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on Flowers Foods in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $20.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com lowered Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. One investment 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Flowers Foods has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $22.75.

Flowers Foods Trading Down 1.2 %

NYSE FLO opened at $23.16 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 52 week low of $19.64 and a 52 week high of $26.12. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $22.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $23.17. The company has a market cap of $4.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.25, a P/E/G ratio of 4.36 and a beta of 0.36.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 16th. The company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.03. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 2.51% and a return on equity of 18.97%. The company had revenue of $1.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.24 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.33 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th were paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.15%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 162.71%.

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.