HighTower Advisors LLC Sells 8,472 Shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

HighTower Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 23.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,922 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,472 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $650,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Flowers Foods during the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 18,254.5% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,019 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 2,008 shares during the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods during the 3rd quarter worth $52,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Flowers Foods in the 2nd quarter valued at $59,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC raised its holdings in Flowers Foods by 329,400.0% in the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 3,295 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 3,294 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Flowers Foods Stock Down 0.6 %

FLO opened at $20.63 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $22.12 and a 200-day moving average of $22.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.10, a P/E/G ratio of 4.04 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 1-year low of $20.51 and a 1-year high of $26.12.

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

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders 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 4.65%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.