Pacer Advisors Inc. Reduces Stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Pacer Advisors Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 14.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 25,080 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,121 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $477,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FLO. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its stake in Flowers Foods by 617.3% during the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 1,463 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in Flowers Foods by 2,191.6% during the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,177 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 2,082 shares during the period. Finally, Allworth Financial LP increased its position in Flowers Foods by 904.8% during the first quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,502 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 2,253 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

Shares of FLO opened at $15.85 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.68 and a beta of 0.33. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $15.27 and a fifty-two week high of $23.87. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $16.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $17.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.26.

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

Flowers Foods Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 19th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 5th were given a dividend of $0.2475 per share. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.2%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 5th. This is an increase from Flowers Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is currently 91.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded Flowers Foods from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Flowers Foods from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 16th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director William Jameson Mcfadden bought 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $16.92 per share, with a total value of $50,760.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 532,476 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,009,493.92. The trade was a 0.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director George E. Deese purchased 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $16.84 per share, for a total transaction of $101,040.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 2,004,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,764,031.60. This trade represents a 0.30% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders bought 12,000 shares of company stock worth $202,440. 11.57% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.