Holocene Advisors LP Increases Stock Position in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Holocene Advisors LP raised its stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 163.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 153,597 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 95,248 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP owned 0.07% of Flowers Foods worth $3,543,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AMG National Trust Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods in the 2nd quarter valued at about $711,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 267.5% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 204,371 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,537,000 after acquiring an additional 148,753 shares during the period. Thomasville National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 30.2% in the third quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 429,014 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,897,000 after acquiring an additional 99,599 shares during the period. Martingale Asset Management L P purchased a new position in shares of Flowers Foods during the third quarter worth approximately $1,571,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,147,242 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,469,000 after acquiring an additional 18,852 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Flowers Foods Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of FLO stock opened at $22.27 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.29 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The business’s 50 day moving average is $22.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $22.64. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a twelve month low of $21.20 and a twelve month high of $26.12.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 19.41% and a net margin of 4.70%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.29 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.27 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.31%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 84.21%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th.

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.