Bayesian Capital Management LP Makes New $581,000 Investment in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Bayesian Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 24,464 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $581,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FLO. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Flowers Foods by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,148,077 shares of the company’s stock worth $453,533,000 after purchasing an additional 84,001 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp grew its stake 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 worth $103,171,000 after purchasing an additional 1,238,749 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake 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 worth $83,069,000 after purchasing an additional 37,237 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake 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 worth $81,401,000 after purchasing an additional 18,730 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Southeast Asset Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Flowers Foods by 4.0% during 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 last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Flowers Foods Stock Up 1.9 %

Flowers Foods stock traded up $0.43 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $22.71. 1,476,145 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,224,904. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 12 month low of $19.64 and a 12 month high of $26.33. The company has a market cap of $4.79 billion, a PE ratio of 37.76, a P/E/G ratio of 5.77 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 firm has a 50-day moving average of $22.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $23.08.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 16th. The company reported $0.38 EPS 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 period in the previous year, the business earned $0.38 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 6th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 6th. This is a positive change from Flowers Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.23%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 162.71%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on FLO shares. BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Flowers Foods in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $20.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Flowers Foods from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 25th. 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. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $23.20.

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.