Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Acquires Shares of 71,352 Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new position in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 71,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,646,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Cooke & Bieler LP lifted its holdings in Flowers Foods by 73.1% in the 2nd quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 5,301,518 shares of the company’s stock worth $117,694,000 after buying an additional 2,239,592 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 65.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,314,556 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,104,000 after acquiring an additional 520,661 shares in the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Flowers Foods in the second quarter valued at about $10,392,000. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC grew its stake in Flowers Foods by 85.4% during the 3rd quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 540,104 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,460,000 after purchasing an additional 248,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in Flowers Foods by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 5,851,682 shares of the company’s stock worth $129,907,000 after purchasing an additional 242,797 shares during the last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th.

Flowers Foods Stock Down 0.5 %

NYSE:FLO opened at $22.62 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.24. The company has a market capitalization of $4.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 0.36. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a one year low of $20.50 and a one year high of $26.12. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.67.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last announced its quarterly 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. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 4.70% and a return on equity of 19.41%. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.29 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.24%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 84.21%.

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.