Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Boosts Holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 8.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 47,373 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,615 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $901,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new position in Flowers Foods during the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 617.3% in 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 period. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in Flowers Foods by 2,191.6% in the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,177 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 2,082 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in Flowers Foods by 904.8% in the first quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,502 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 2,253 shares during the last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on FLO. Wall Street Zen lowered Flowers Foods from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price 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.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

Shares of Flowers Foods stock opened at $16.10 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $16.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a twelve month low of $15.27 and a twelve month high of $23.87. The stock has a market cap of $3.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.91 and a beta of 0.32.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last posted its earnings results on Friday, May 16th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by ($0.03). The company 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%. Flowers Foods’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.38 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 19th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 5th were paid a dividend of $0.2475 per share. This is a positive change from Flowers Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.1%. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is presently 91.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director George E. Deese acquired 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $16.84 per share, with a total value of $101,040.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,004,990 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,764,031.60. This represents a 0.30% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director William Jameson Mcfadden purchased 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $16.92 per share, for a total transaction of $50,760.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 532,476 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,009,493.92. This represents a 0.57% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought 12,000 shares of company stock valued at $202,440 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.57% of the company’s stock.

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.