Pacer Advisors Inc. Sells 16,073 Shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Pacer Advisors Inc. decreased its position in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 35.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 29,201 shares of the company’s stock after selling 16,073 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $603,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 2,156.0% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 136,354 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,817,000 after acquiring an additional 130,310 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 69.8% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,428 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 1,409 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 32,191 shares of the company’s stock valued at $665,000 after acquiring an additional 1,066 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC grew its position in Flowers Foods by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 19,460 shares of the company’s stock valued at $402,000 after purchasing an additional 1,634 shares during the period. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its position in Flowers Foods by 10.0% in the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 105,514 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,180,000 after purchasing an additional 9,626 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

NYSE FLO opened at $19.53 on Tuesday. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 1 year low of $18.90 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 cap of $4.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.13, a PEG ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $20.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.97.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last posted its earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $1.20 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.29 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.91%. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is currently 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.