Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Shares Sold by Asset Management One Co. Ltd.

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. trimmed its position in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) by 18.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 80,647 shares of the company's stock after selling 18,533 shares during the quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $1,533,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wasatch Advisors LP purchased a new stake in Flowers Foods in the 4th quarter worth approximately $58,476,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods in the 4th quarter worth about $42,591,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 28.2% during the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,381,444 shares of the company's stock valued at $90,521,000 after buying an additional 965,097 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Flowers Foods by 33.7% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,475,242 shares of the company's stock worth $51,138,000 after purchasing an additional 623,800 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Flowers Foods during the 4th quarter valued at about $12,058,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.45% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director William Jameson Mcfadden purchased 3,000 shares of Flowers Foods stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were bought at an average price of $16.92 per share, with a total value of $50,760.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 532,476 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,009,493.92. This trade represents a 0.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director George E. Deese purchased 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 purchase, the director directly owned 2,004,990 shares of the company's stock, valued at $33,764,031.60. The trade was a 0.30% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders bought 12,000 shares of company stock valued at $202,440. 11.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on FLO. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Flowers Foods from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Flowers Foods has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $19.25.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

FLO traded up $0.09 on Thursday, reaching $16.45. The stock had a trading volume of 1,678,915 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,809,760. The company has a market cap of $3.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.23 and a beta of 0.33. The business's 50-day moving average price is $16.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $18.35. 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 12-month low of $15.74 and a 12-month high of $23.87.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 16th. The company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 previous year, the company posted $0.38 EPS. The firm's revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowers Foods Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 19th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 5th were paid a dividend of $0.2475 per share. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 5th. This is a positive change from Flowers Foods's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Flowers Foods's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 91.67%.

Flowers Foods Company 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.