102,050 Shares in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Acquired by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 102,050 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,940,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in Flowers Foods during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in Flowers Foods by 617.3% in the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,700 shares of the company's stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 1,463 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in Flowers Foods by 2,191.6% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 34.4% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,713 shares of the company's stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 694 shares during the last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Flowers Foods

In other news, Director George E. Deese bought 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $16.84 per share, with a total value of $101,040.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 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 purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director William Jameson Mcfadden purchased 3,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $16.92 per share, with a total value of $50,760.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 532,476 shares in the company, valued at $9,009,493.92. This trade represents a 0.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders purchased 12,000 shares of company stock worth $202,440. 11.57% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FLO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Flowers Foods from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Flowers Foods from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $19.25.

Flowers Foods Trading Up 0.6%

Flowers Foods stock traded up $0.10 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $15.99. 1,176,360 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,743,801. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.79 and a beta of 0.34. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $15.74 and a fifty-two week high of $23.87. The firm's 50 day moving average is $17.18 and its 200-day moving average is $18.71.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 16th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.03). Flowers Foods had a net margin of 4.49% and a return on equity of 18.91%. The business had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.60 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.38 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, 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. Investors of record on Thursday, June 5th were paid a dividend of $0.2475 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 5th. This is a boost from Flowers Foods's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.19%. Flowers Foods's payout ratio is 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.