Millennium Management LLC Increases Holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 5.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 738,570 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 38,369 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC owned 0.35% of Flowers Foods worth $16,396,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in FLO. Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 2.0% in the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 23,779 shares of the company’s stock valued at $528,000 after acquiring an additional 466 shares during the period. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Flowers Foods by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC now owns 52,279 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,242,000 after purchasing an additional 474 shares in the last quarter. Argyle Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Flowers Foods by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Argyle Capital Management Inc. now owns 66,018 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,568,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 21,728 shares of the company’s stock valued at $482,000 after purchasing an additional 603 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI increased its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 1.4% in the second quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI now owns 45,165 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,003,000 after purchasing an additional 625 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on FLO. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on Flowers Foods in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $20.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com cut Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.75.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

NYSE FLO opened at $22.40 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.97, a P/E/G ratio of 4.43 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.19. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 52-week low of $19.64 and a 52-week high of $26.12. The company has a fifty day moving average of $22.97 and a 200-day moving average of $23.16.

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

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were paid a $0.24 dividend. 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 4.29%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 162.71%.

Flowers Foods 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.