Edgestream Partners L.P. Trims Holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Edgestream Partners L.P. decreased its holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 71.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 58,663 shares of the company’s stock after selling 147,463 shares during the quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P.’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $1,302,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Flowers Foods in the 1st quarter valued at $2,224,000. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Flowers Foods in the 1st quarter valued at $2,422,000. Armistice Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Flowers Foods in the 4th quarter valued at $839,000. Southeast Asset Advisors Inc. raised its position in Flowers Foods by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Southeast Asset Advisors Inc. now owns 3,276,549 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,755,000 after purchasing an additional 125,761 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Flowers Foods in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,016,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FLO has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of Flowers Foods in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $20.00 price target on the stock. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.75.

Flowers Foods Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of FLO stock opened at $23.44 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.73, a PEG ratio of 4.36 and a beta of 0.36. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 1-year low of $19.64 and a 1-year high of $26.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $22.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.16.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 16th. The company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.24 billion. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 2.51% and a return on equity of 18.97%. The company’s revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.33 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.26 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.10%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio is currently 162.71%.

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.