Boston Trust Walden Corp Reduces Position in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Boston Trust Walden Corp lowered its stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) by 41.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,260,631 shares of the company's stock after selling 1,570,553 shares during the quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp owned approximately 1.07% of Flowers Foods worth $42,975,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of FLO. State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 2.0% in the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 31,837 shares of the company's stock worth $604,000 after purchasing an additional 620 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew 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 purchasing an additional 694 shares during the last quarter. Mariner LLC grew its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 112,027 shares of the company's stock worth $2,314,000 after purchasing an additional 1,089 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 13,433 shares of the company's stock worth $278,000 after purchasing an additional 1,101 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 36,133 shares of the company's stock worth $747,000 after purchasing an additional 1,148 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.45% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

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 stock was bought at an average cost of $16.84 per share, with a total value of $101,040.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 2,004,990 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,764,031.60. This represents a 0.30% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director William Jameson Mcfadden purchased 3,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $16.92 per share, with a total value of $50,760.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 532,476 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,009,493.92. This represents a 0.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have purchased 12,000 shares of company stock worth $202,440. 11.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Flowers Foods Stock Up 2.1%

Shares of FLO stock traded up $0.34 on Monday, reaching $16.21. 3,164,942 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,759,794. The company has a market cap of $3.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.01 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a 50-day moving average of $17.07 and a 200-day moving average of $18.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.89. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a one year low of $15.74 and a one year high of $23.87.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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 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 EPS. The company's revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 5th were given a dividend of $0.2475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.11%. This is a boost from Flowers Foods's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Flowers Foods's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 91.67%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on FLO shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Flowers Foods from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Flowers Foods presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $19.25.

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.