Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Shares Sold by Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lowered its stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 2.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 35,174 shares of the company’s stock after selling 996 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $835,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of FLO. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Flowers Foods in the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Flowers Foods in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Gladius Capital Management LP raised its position in Flowers Foods by 46.4% in the 3rd quarter. Gladius Capital Management LP now owns 1,539 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 488 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp purchased a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on FLO shares. StockNews.com upgraded Flowers Foods from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 25th. DA Davidson raised their price target on Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Flowers Foods from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. 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 MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $24.00.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

NYSE:FLO traded down $0.09 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $21.84. 106,646 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,216,797. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $23.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.14. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 1 year low of $19.64 and a 1 year high of $26.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.17, a P/E/G ratio of 5.65 and a beta of 0.36. 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 announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.02). Flowers Foods had a net margin of 2.45% and a return on equity of 18.35%. The company had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.38 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 6th were paid a $0.24 dividend. This is an increase from Flowers Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.40%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 6th. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.