Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Acquires Shares of 8,688 Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 8,688 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $200,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System boosted its position in Flowers Foods by 10.8% in the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 247,530 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,879,000 after buying an additional 24,192 shares during the last quarter. AMG National Trust Bank bought a new position in Flowers Foods in the second quarter valued at about $711,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Flowers Foods by 267.5% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 204,371 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,537,000 after purchasing an additional 148,753 shares during the period. Bayesian Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Flowers Foods during the 1st quarter worth about $581,000. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP lifted its position in Flowers Foods by 254.1% during the 1st quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP now owns 38,431 shares of the company’s stock valued at $913,000 after purchasing an additional 27,577 shares during the period. 75.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Flowers Foods from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $22.75.

Flowers Foods Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE:FLO opened at $21.71 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.98, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.36. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 1-year low of $20.50 and a 1-year high of $26.12. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $22.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last announced its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 2.51% and a return on equity of 18.97%. Flowers Foods’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.29 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.