Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Shares Purchased by Allianz Asset Management GmbH

Key Points

• Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. by 76.2%, owning approximately 422,052 shares valued at $8,023,000.
• Insider purchases include Director George E. Deese buying 6,000 shares and Director Thomas Caldecot Chubb III acquiring 3,000 shares, indicating growing confidence in the company.
• Flowers Foods reported a decrease in quarterly earnings with $0.35 EPS, missing the expectation of $0.38, and declared an increased quarterly dividend of $0.2475 per share.

Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its position in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) by 76.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 422,052 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 182,489 shares during the quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH owned about 0.20% of Flowers Foods worth $8,023,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other 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 4th quarter worth $29,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 1,463 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 2,082 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 904.8% in 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 owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director George E. Deese purchased 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were bought at an average price of $16.84 per share, with a total value of $101,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,004,990 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,764,031.60. This represents a 0.30% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas Caldecot Chubb III bought 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $16.88 per share, for a total transaction of $50,640.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 45,861 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $774,133.68. This trade represents a 7.00% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 12,000 shares of company stock valued at $202,440 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.57% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Flowers Foods Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FLO opened at $16.26 on Friday. 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 $15.27 and a fifty-two week high of $23.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.43 billion, a PE ratio of 15.05 and a beta of 0.33. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $16.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.78.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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). The business had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.60 billion. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 18.91% and a net margin of 4.49%. Flowers Foods's revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.38 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 19th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 5th were given a dividend of $0.2475 per share. This is a positive change from Flowers Foods's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.09%. Flowers Foods's payout ratio is 91.67%.

About Flowers Foods

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding FLO? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.