Blue Trust Inc. Has $111,000 Stock Holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 114.9% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 5,829 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,116 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $111,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wasatch Advisors LP acquired a new position in Flowers Foods in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $58,476,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,591,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 28.2% in the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,381,444 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,521,000 after buying an additional 965,097 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 33.7% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,475,242 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,138,000 after buying an additional 623,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the 4th quarter worth approximately $12,058,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FLO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Flowers Foods from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Wall Street Zen lowered Flowers Foods from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Flowers Foods presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $19.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Flowers Foods news, Director George E. Deese purchased 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $16.84 per share, for a total transaction of $101,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,004,990 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,764,031.60. This represents a 0.30% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director William Jameson Mcfadden acquired 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $16.92 per share, with a total value of $50,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 532,476 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,009,493.92. This represents a 0.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders acquired 12,000 shares of company stock worth $202,440. Company insiders own 11.57% of the company’s stock.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

Shares of Flowers Foods stock opened at $15.90 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.36 billion, a PE ratio of 14.72 and a beta of 0.34. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 12 month low of $15.74 and a 12 month high of $23.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $16.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.53.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 16th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.60 billion. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 4.49% and a return on equity of 18.91%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.38 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 19th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 5th were issued a dividend of $0.2475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.23%. This is a boost from Flowers Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 91.67%.

Flowers Foods 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.