Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Shares Acquired by Empowered Funds LLC

Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 7.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 71,278 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 5,085 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $1,644,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bayesian Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Flowers Foods in the first quarter valued at $581,000. Keynote Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in Flowers Foods during the first quarter worth approximately $224,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 128.2% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,305 shares of the company’s stock valued at $118,000 after acquiring an additional 2,980 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in Flowers Foods by 7,694.7% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,962 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 2,924 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 1,006.9% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 11,567 shares of the company’s stock valued at $257,000 after purchasing an additional 10,522 shares during the last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:FLO opened at $22.22 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $22.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.82. The company has a market cap of $4.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.49, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.24. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a one year low of $20.50 and a one year high of $26.12.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last released 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.20 billion. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 4.70% and a return on equity of 19.41%. The business’s revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.29 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.32%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is 84.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday.

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.