Boston Trust Walden Corp Sells 1,570,553 Shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Boston Trust Walden Corp trimmed its position in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) by 41.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor 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 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of FLO. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new stake in Flowers Foods during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted 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 purchasing an additional 1,463 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 34.4% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,713 shares of the company's stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 694 shares in the last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FLO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut Flowers Foods from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Flowers Foods has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $19.25.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FLO opened at $15.90 on Friday. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a twelve month low of $15.74 and a twelve month high of $23.87. The firm has a market cap of $3.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.72 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a 50 day moving average of $17.18 and a 200 day moving average of $18.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

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 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 firm had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.60 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.38 earnings per share. Flowers Foods's revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 19th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 5th were issued a $0.2475 dividend. This is a positive change from Flowers Foods's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.23%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 5th. Flowers Foods's payout ratio is presently 91.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director George E. Deese bought 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $16.84 per share, for a total transaction of $101,040.00. Following the purchase, the director now 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 acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director William Jameson Mcfadden bought 3,000 shares of the firm's 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 completion of the purchase, the director now owns 532,476 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,009,493.92. The trade was a 0.57% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought a total of 12,000 shares of company stock worth $202,440 in the last three months. Insiders own 11.57% of the company's stock.

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.

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