MQS Management LLC Acquires New Position in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

MQS Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 28,948 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $643,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,148,077 shares of the company’s stock worth $453,533,000 after acquiring an additional 84,001 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 242,797 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP raised its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 73.1% in the second quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 5,301,518 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,694,000 after acquiring an additional 2,239,592 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its position in Flowers Foods by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 4,623,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $102,631,000 after buying an additional 54,757 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,720,302 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,592,000 after buying an additional 160,794 shares during the period. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on FLO shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. BNP Paribas began coverage on Flowers Foods in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $20.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Flowers Foods presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $22.75.

Flowers Foods Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:FLO opened at $23.72 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The stock has a market cap of $5.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.20, a PEG ratio of 4.36 and a beta of 0.36. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 12-month low of $19.64 and a 12-month high of $26.12. The business’s 50 day moving average is $22.75 and its 200 day moving average is $23.15.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 16th. The company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $1.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.33 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.05%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 162.71%.

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.