Gallacher Capital Management LLC Makes New Investment in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Gallacher Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 35,026 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $666,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Flowers Foods by 14.3% during the 1st quarter. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. now owns 168,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,194,000 after purchasing an additional 21,000 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 2.9% during the first quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 5,612,523 shares of the company's stock worth $106,694,000 after buying an additional 159,460 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Flowers Foods by 23.0% during the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 346,630 shares of the company's stock worth $6,589,000 after acquiring an additional 64,824 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. boosted its position in Flowers Foods by 68.6% during the 1st quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 495,568 shares of the company's stock worth $9,421,000 after acquiring an additional 201,635 shares during the period. Finally, Code Waechter LLC acquired a new position in Flowers Foods during the 1st quarter worth $193,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.45% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on FLO shares. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 16th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Flowers Foods from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director George E. Deese acquired 6,000 shares of Flowers Foods stock in a transaction 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 owned 2,004,990 shares of the company's stock, valued at $33,764,031.60. This represents a 0.30% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director William Jameson Mcfadden acquired 3,000 shares of Flowers Foods stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were purchased 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 directly owned 532,476 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,009,493.92. This represents a 0.57% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased a total of 12,000 shares of company stock valued at $202,440 over the last three months. Insiders own 11.57% of the company's stock.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

NYSE FLO traded down $0.24 on Thursday, reaching $16.19. The company's stock had a trading volume of 593,085 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,422,316. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a twelve month low of $15.27 and a twelve month high of $23.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market cap of $3.42 billion, a PE ratio of 14.99 and a beta of 0.33. The firm's 50 day moving average is $16.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.85.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, May 16th. The company reported $0.35 EPS 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.60 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.38 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 19th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 5th were issued a dividend of $0.2475 per share. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.11%. This is an increase from Flowers Foods's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 5th. Flowers Foods's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.