Versant Capital Management Inc Reduces Stock Position in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Versant Capital Management Inc decreased its stake in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 36.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,072 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,187 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $43,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Flowers Foods by 6.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,159,076 shares of the company’s stock valued at $95,971,000 after acquiring an additional 259,216 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC increased its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 85.0% during the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 72,886 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,681,000 after purchasing an additional 33,480 shares during the last quarter. Thomasville National Bank lifted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 30.2% in the 3rd quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 429,014 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,897,000 after purchasing an additional 99,599 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 94.7% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 180,227 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,158,000 after buying an additional 87,654 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Martingale Asset Management L P bought a new stake in Flowers Foods during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,571,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com cut Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FLO opened at $20.15 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.68, a P/E/G ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.37. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 1-year low of $20.07 and a 1-year high of $26.12. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $21.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $22.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

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

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.76%. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is 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.