New Age Alpha Advisors LLC Raises Holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Key Points

• New Age Alpha Advisors LLC increased its stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. by 33.7%, acquiring an additional 44,812 shares for approximately $3.38 million, bringing their total shares to 177,837.
• Insider purchases included directors Thomas Caldecot Chubb III and William Jameson Mcfadden each buying 3,000 shares, indicating strong insider confidence in the company's performance.
• Flowers Foods recently increased its quarterly dividend from $0.24 to $0.2475 per share, reflecting a 6.1% yield, despite a reported earnings miss and quarter-over-quarter revenue decline.

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) by 33.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 177,837 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 44,812 shares during the period. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.08% of Flowers Foods worth $3,381,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new position in Flowers Foods in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its holdings 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 during the period. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 2,191.6% during the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,177 shares of the company's stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 2,082 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP increased its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 904.8% during the 1st quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,502 shares of the company's stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 2,253 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.45% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Flowers Foods

In other 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, with a total value of $101,040.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,004,990 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,764,031.60. This trade represents a 0.30% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas Caldecot Chubb III purchased 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $16.88 per share, for a total transaction of $50,640.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 45,861 shares in the company, valued at approximately $774,133.68. This represents a 7.00% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have purchased 12,000 shares of company stock valued at $202,440. 11.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on FLO. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Flowers Foods from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, May 19th.

Flowers Foods Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of FLO stock traded up $0.10 on Friday, reaching $16.36. 1,774,895 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,411,520. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $16.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.59. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 52 week low of $15.27 and a 52 week high of $23.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.45 billion, a PE ratio of 15.15 and a beta of 0.32.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last released 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 the consensus estimate of $1.60 billion. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 18.91% and a net margin of 4.49%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.38 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast 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 given a dividend of $0.2475 per share. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.1%. This is a boost from Flowers Foods's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 5th. Flowers Foods's dividend payout ratio 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.