30,145 Shares in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Acquired by Aigen Investment Management LP

Key Points

• Aigen Investment Management LP invested approximately $573,000 in Flowers Foods, Inc. by acquiring 30,145 shares in the first quarter.
• Flowers Foods missed earnings estimates with reported earnings per share of $0.35, falling short of the expected $0.38, and its quarterly revenue decreased by 1.4% year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.2475 per share, reflecting a 6.1% dividend yield and an increase from the previous dividend of $0.24.

Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 30,145 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $573,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 1,463 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 2,191.6% in the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,177 shares of the company's stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 2,082 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in Flowers Foods by 904.8% during the 1st quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,502 shares of the company's stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 2,253 shares during the last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Flowers Foods Trading Down 5.2%

Shares of NYSE:FLO traded down $0.86 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $15.72. 5,478,117 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,363,786. The business's 50-day moving average price is $16.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.45. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 12 month low of $15.27 and a 12 month high of $23.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.56 and a beta of 0.32. 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 - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 15th. The company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.27 billion. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 18.91% and a net margin of 4.49%. Flowers Foods's quarterly revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.36 EPS. Analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowers Foods Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 19th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 5th were given a $0.2475 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 5th. This is an increase from Flowers Foods's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.3%. Flowers Foods's dividend payout ratio is presently 91.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Flowers Foods

In related news, Director George E. Deese purchased 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were bought at an average price of $16.84 per share, for a total transaction of $101,040.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 2,004,990 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $33,764,031.60. This represents a 0.30% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director William Jameson Mcfadden purchased 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $16.92 per share, for a total transaction of $50,760.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 532,476 shares in the company, 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders purchased 12,000 shares of company stock worth $202,440. 11.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on FLO. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Flowers Foods from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Flowers Foods from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, May 19th.

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.