Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Has $4.47 Million Stock Holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. decreased its position in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 3.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 216,345 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,096 shares during the quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $4,470,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of FLO. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Flowers Foods in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Flowers Foods by 18,254.5% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,019 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 2,008 shares during the period. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in Flowers Foods in the 3rd quarter valued at $52,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Flowers Foods in the 2nd quarter valued at $59,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC raised its stake in Flowers Foods by 329,400.0% in the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 3,295 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 3,294 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com cut Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th.

Flowers Foods Stock Up 1.5 %

Flowers Foods stock traded up $0.28 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $19.28. The stock had a trading volume of 1,050,349 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,924,142. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.24. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $18.97 and a fifty-two week high of $26.12. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $21.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.06 billion, a PE ratio of 16.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.39.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.03. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 19.41% and a net margin of 4.70%. The firm had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.20 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.29 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.98%. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is 84.21%.

About Flowers Foods

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.