GSA Capital Partners LLP Makes New $1.13 Million Investment in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 48,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,126,000.

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

Flowers Foods Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of FLO opened at $21.83 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $22.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $22.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.15, a PEG ratio of 4.13 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.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last issued its earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.33 EPS 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.20 billion. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 4.70% and a return on equity of 19.41%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.29 earnings per share. Equities research 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 was paid on Friday, September 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th were paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.40%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 84.21%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.