Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Shares Sold by Covea Finance

Covea Finance lessened its position in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 63.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 47,000 shares of the company’s stock after selling 80,000 shares during the quarter. Covea Finance’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $1,169,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in FLO. Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 2,563.0% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC now owns 14,174,952 shares of the company’s stock worth $407,388,000 after buying an additional 13,642,655 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 206.0% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,286,504 shares of the company’s stock worth $473,823,000 after buying an additional 11,637,370 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC raised its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 3,245.4% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC now owns 6,849,098 shares of the company’s stock worth $196,843,000 after buying an additional 6,644,368 shares during the last quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 59,422.9% during the 4th quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 2,047,587 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,848,000 after buying an additional 2,044,147 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Flowers Foods during the 4th quarter worth $38,880,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FLO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $25.00 price objective on shares of Flowers Foods in a research report on Friday, August 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on Flowers Foods from $26.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Monday, May 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on Flowers Foods in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “buy” rating for the company.

Insider Buying and Selling at Flowers Foods

In other Flowers Foods news, insider H Mark Courtney sold 14,272 shares of Flowers Foods stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.39, for a total value of $348,094.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 41,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,011,892.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 11.49% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Flowers Foods Trading Down 0.3 %

FLO traded down $0.08 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $23.03. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 225,999 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,933,340. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The firm has a market cap of $4.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.01, a PEG ratio of 8.39 and a beta of 0.41. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $24.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $25.77. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 52-week low of $22.47 and a 52-week high of $30.16.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 10th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.20 billion. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 18.28% and a net margin of 4.47%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.31 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 1st will be issued a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 31st. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 87.62%.

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 cakes, and tortillas, as well as frozen breads and rolls under the Nature's Own, Dave's Killer Bread, Wonder, Canyon Bakehouse, Mrs. Freshley's, and Tastykake brand names.