Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Shares Purchased by Fmr LLC

Fmr LLC boosted its stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 12.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,099 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 3,080 shares during the quarter. Fmr LLC’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $648,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of FLO. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 4.3% in the second 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. Cooke & Bieler LP lifted its stake in Flowers Foods by 73.1% in the 2nd quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 5,301,518 shares of the company’s stock worth $117,694,000 after purchasing an additional 2,239,592 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Flowers Foods by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,720,302 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,592,000 after purchasing an additional 160,794 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,008,103 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,327,000 after purchasing an additional 58,141 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 65.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,314,556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,104,000 after purchasing an additional 520,661 shares in the last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Flowers Foods from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

NYSE:FLO opened at $20.92 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $22.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $22.53. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 1-year low of $20.68 and a 1-year high of $26.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.56, a PEG ratio of 4.04 and a beta of 0.37.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.20 billion. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 19.41% and a net margin of 4.70%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.29 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.27 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.59%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 84.21%.

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.