Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 1,323 Shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO – Get Rating) by 0.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 752,950 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,323 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $21,640,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Flowers Foods by 0.8% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 40,676 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,004,000 after acquiring an additional 342 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in Flowers Foods by 0.7% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 52,289 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,376,000 after acquiring an additional 364 shares during the period. ICW Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Flowers Foods by 0.9% during the third quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC now owns 49,473 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,221,000 after acquiring an additional 449 shares during the period. Kestra Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Flowers Foods by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 13,045 shares of the company’s stock valued at $375,000 after acquiring an additional 463 shares during the period. Finally, AMG National Trust Bank grew its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 45,079 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,296,000 after purchasing an additional 487 shares during the period. 66.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on FLO shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Flowers Foods from $27.00 to $26.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 20th. StockNews.com started coverage on Flowers Foods in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock.

Flowers Foods Stock Down 9.9 %

Shares of FLO opened at $25.99 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.99 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.13. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a one year low of $24.15 and a one year high of $30.16. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $27.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.04.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Friday, May 19th. The company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.55 billion. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 18.02% and a net margin of 4.35%. Flowers Foods’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.44 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Profile

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Flowers Foods, Inc engages in the manufacture and sale of bakery products. The firm offers bakery foods for retail and food service customers in the United States. Its brands include Nature’s Own, Dave’s Killer Bread, Wonder, Canyon Bakehouse, Tastykake and Mrs. Freshley’s. The company was founded by William Howard Flowers, Sr.