Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning Sells 5,284 Shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning lessened its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 34.2% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 10,178 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,284 shares during the period. Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $242,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,148,077 shares of the company’s stock valued at $453,533,000 after acquiring an additional 84,001 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 37.0% in the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 4,583,334 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,171,000 after acquiring an additional 1,238,749 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,690,327 shares of the company’s stock valued at $83,069,000 after acquiring an additional 37,237 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,616,216 shares of the company’s stock valued at $81,401,000 after acquiring an additional 18,730 shares during the period. Finally, Southeast Asset Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Southeast Asset Advisors Inc. now owns 3,276,549 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,755,000 after acquiring an additional 125,761 shares during the period. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FLO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Flowers Foods from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 25th. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $24.00.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

Flowers Foods stock traded down $0.09 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $22.06. 33,078 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,220,670. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a one year low of $19.64 and a one year high of $26.33. The stock has a market cap of $4.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.72 and a beta of 0.36. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $23.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $23.16.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 2.45% and a return on equity of 18.35%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.38 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 6th were paid a $0.24 dividend. This is a boost from Flowers Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 6th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.35%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio is 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.