Ceredex Value Advisors LLC Acquires New Holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Ceredex Value Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 511,700 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,518,000. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.24% of Flowers Foods as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FLO. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Flowers Foods by 206.0% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,286,504 shares of the company's stock valued at $473,823,000 after purchasing an additional 11,637,370 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods during the 4th quarter worth $38,880,000. Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 37.0% during the 4th quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 4,583,334 shares of the company's stock worth $103,171,000 after acquiring an additional 1,238,749 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 73.6% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,383,121 shares of the company's stock worth $65,321,000 after acquiring an additional 1,010,211 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 84.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,165,440 shares of the company's stock worth $62,235,000 after acquiring an additional 988,809 shares in the last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Terry S. Thomas sold 36,577 shares of Flowers Foods stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.11, for a total transaction of $845,294.47. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 42,740 shares of the company's stock, valued at $987,721.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Terry S. Thomas sold 36,577 shares of Flowers Foods stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.11, for a total transaction of $845,294.47. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 42,740 shares of the company's stock, valued at $987,721.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Edward J. Jr. Casey acquired 5,000 shares of Flowers Foods stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $23.55 per share, with a total value of $117,750.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 20,330 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $478,771.50. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 11.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. DA Davidson assumed coverage on Flowers Foods in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They set a "neutral" rating and a $24.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com raised Flowers Foods from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $24.00.

Flowers Foods Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of FLO stock traded down $0.06 on Monday, reaching $23.11. 754,905 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,185,370. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 12-month low of $19.64 and a 12-month high of $29.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.04. The company has a market capitalization of $4.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.39. The business's 50 day moving average price is $22.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.26.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.20. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 18.15% and a net margin of 2.42%. The business had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.13 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.23 earnings per share. Flowers Foods's revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.98%. Flowers Foods's dividend payout ratio is 158.62%.

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.