Principal Financial Group Inc. Lowers Holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its position in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 29.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 453,312 shares of the company’s stock after selling 186,194 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.22% of Flowers Foods worth $10,458,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in Flowers Foods by 18,254.5% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,019 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 2,008 shares during the period. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in Flowers Foods during the 3rd quarter valued at $52,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the 2nd quarter valued at $59,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 329,400.0% in the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 3,295 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 3,294 shares in the last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Flowers Foods Price Performance

NYSE FLO opened at $20.55 on Tuesday. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 12-month low of $20.21 and a 12-month high of $26.12. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $21.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $22.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.03, a P/E/G ratio of 4.04 and a beta of 0.37.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last announced its earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.20 billion. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 19.41% and a net margin of 4.70%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.29 EPS. Analysts forecast that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.67%. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is currently 84.21%.

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.