Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Shares Acquired by Summit Global Investments

Summit Global Investments increased its stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) by 165.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 54,678 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 34,057 shares during the period. Summit Global Investments' holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $1,261,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FLO. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Flowers Foods during the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 18,254.5% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,019 shares of the company's stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 2,008 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Flowers Foods during the second quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 7,694.7% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,962 shares of the company's stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 2,924 shares during the period. Finally, HHM Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 264.0% during the second quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,494 shares of the company's stock valued at $78,000 after buying an additional 2,534 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.45% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Flowers Foods from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $22.75.

Flowers Foods Trading Down 2.7 %

Shares of Flowers Foods stock traded down $0.59 on Friday, hitting $21.44. 2,655,462 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 925,562. The company has a market cap of $4.52 billion, a PE ratio of 35.18, a PEG ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.36. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 52 week low of $19.64 and a 52 week high of $26.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $22.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $23.00.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 2.51% and a return on equity of 18.97%. Flowers Foods's revenue for the quarter was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.29 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.25 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th were paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. Flowers Foods's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 157.38%.

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.