Centiva Capital LP Invests $978,000 in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Centiva Capital LP purchased a new position in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 42,414 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $978,000.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. AMG National Trust Bank purchased a new stake in Flowers Foods during the second quarter valued at about $711,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 267.5% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 204,371 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,537,000 after purchasing an additional 148,753 shares during the period. Thomasville National Bank grew its holdings in Flowers Foods by 30.2% during the 3rd quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 429,014 shares of the company's stock valued at $9,897,000 after buying an additional 99,599 shares in the last quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P purchased a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods in the third quarter worth about $1,571,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 1.7% in the second 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 1.4 %

Shares of FLO stock traded down $0.32 on Friday, hitting $21.94. 1,367,479 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,194,073. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.53, a P/E/G ratio of 4.29 and a beta of 0.37. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $22.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.64. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a one year low of $21.20 and a one year high of $26.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.24.

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

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.38%. Flowers Foods's payout ratio is presently 84.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of Flowers Foods from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report 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.