HB Wealth Management LLC Raises Stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

HB Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 32.2% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 12,444 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,034 shares during the period. HB Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $296,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB purchased a new position in Flowers Foods during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,018,000. Armistice Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the fourth quarter worth $839,000. Inceptionr LLC purchased a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the fourth quarter worth $321,000. Southeast Asset Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Southeast Asset Advisors Inc. now owns 3,276,549 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,755,000 after buying an additional 125,761 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the fourth quarter worth $26,016,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FLO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Flowers Foods from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Flowers Foods from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $24.00.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

Flowers Foods stock traded down $0.12 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $21.81. 319,384 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,218,458. The company has a market cap of $4.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.02, a PEG ratio of 5.65 and a beta of 0.36. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $23.54 and a two-hundred day moving average of $23.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 12-month low of $19.64 and a 12-month high of $26.33.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 2.45% and a return on equity of 18.35%. Flowers Foods’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.38 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowers Foods Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 6th were issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.40%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 6th. This is a positive change from Flowers Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 162.71%.

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.