UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC Purchases 7,844 Shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 586,008 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 7,844 shares during the quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $13,519,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AMG National Trust Bank bought a new position in Flowers Foods during the second quarter worth $711,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Flowers Foods by 267.5% during 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. Thomasville National Bank boosted its position in Flowers Foods by 30.2% during the third quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 429,014 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,897,000 after purchasing an additional 99,599 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in Flowers Foods by 1.7% during the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,147,242 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,469,000 after purchasing an additional 18,852 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in Flowers Foods by 94.7% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 180,227 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,158,000 after purchasing an additional 87,654 shares during the period. 75.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Flowers Foods Trading Down 1.4 %

FLO stock opened at $21.94 on Friday. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 52 week low of $21.20 and a 52 week high of $26.12. 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’s 50-day simple moving average is $22.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.61. The company has a market capitalization of $4.62 billion, a PE ratio of 19.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.26 and a beta of 0.37.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last announced its earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 for the quarter was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.29 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.38%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio is presently 84.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.