Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 9,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $208,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in FLO. Cooke & Bieler LP grew its position in Flowers Foods by 73.1% during the 2nd quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 5,301,518 shares of the company’s stock worth $117,694,000 after acquiring an additional 2,239,592 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 65.6% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,314,556 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,104,000 after purchasing an additional 520,661 shares during the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the second quarter valued at approximately $10,392,000. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Flowers Foods by 85.4% in the 3rd quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 540,104 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,460,000 after buying an additional 248,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in Flowers Foods by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 5,851,682 shares of the company’s stock worth $129,907,000 after buying an additional 242,797 shares during the period. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Flowers Foods Trading Down 1.2 %

NYSE FLO opened at $21.57 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.54 billion, a PE ratio of 18.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.12 and a beta of 0.36. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $22.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 12 month low of $20.50 and a 12 month high of $26.12.

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

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.45%. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is 84.21%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Flowers Foods from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th.

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.