AMG National Trust Bank Makes New $711,000 Investment in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

AMG National Trust Bank bought a new position in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 32,028 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $711,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of FLO. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,016,000. Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its stake in Flowers Foods by 293.7% in the fourth quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 782,518 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,614,000 after buying an additional 583,749 shares during the last quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Flowers Foods during the fourth quarter valued at $5,751,000. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Flowers Foods during the first quarter worth about $4,644,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 148,753 shares during the last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on FLO. StockNews.com raised shares of Flowers Foods from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Flowers Foods from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Flowers Foods in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $20.00 target price for the company. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $22.75.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

NYSE FLO traded up $0.23 on Friday, reaching $23.05. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 738,166 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,223,516. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a twelve month low of $19.64 and a twelve month high of $26.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.11. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $22.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.07. The stock has a market cap of $4.87 billion, a PE ratio of 39.07, a PEG ratio of 5.84 and a beta of 0.36.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last released its earnings results on Friday, August 16th. The company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.24 billion. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 2.45% and a return on equity of 18.35%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.33 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.23 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio is presently 162.71%.

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.