SG Capital Management LLC Lowers Stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

SG Capital Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 85.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,434 shares of the company’s stock after selling 145,924 shares during the quarter. SG Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $604,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of FLO. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 143.6% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 39,410 shares of the company’s stock worth $887,000 after purchasing an additional 23,229 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Flowers Foods during the fourth quarter worth $244,000. Coston McIsaac & Partners boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Coston McIsaac & Partners now owns 175,802 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,956,000 after acquiring an additional 7,022 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 168,079 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,778,000 after acquiring an additional 3,105 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 37.0% during the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 4,583,334 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,171,000 after acquiring an additional 1,238,749 shares during the last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Flowers Foods Trading Up 1.7 %

FLO stock traded up $0.38 during trading on Friday, hitting $23.05. The company had a trading volume of 1,188,533 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,278,412. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.07, a PEG ratio of 5.84 and a beta of 0.36. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 52-week low of $19.64 and a 52-week high of $26.33. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.08. 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 (NYSE:FLO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 18.35% and a net margin of 2.45%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.38 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 6th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.16%. This is a boost from Flowers Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 6th. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio is presently 162.71%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Flowers Foods from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 25th. BNP Paribas began coverage on shares of Flowers Foods in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $20.00 price target on the stock. DA Davidson upped their price target 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. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Flowers Foods from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Flowers Foods currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $23.20.

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.