Principal Financial Group Inc. Lowers Position in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) by 29.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 453,312 shares of the company's stock after selling 186,194 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.21% of Flowers Foods worth $10,458,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in Flowers Foods by 4.3% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 5,851,682 shares of the company's stock valued at $129,907,000 after buying an additional 242,797 shares in the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP boosted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 73.1% during the second quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 5,301,518 shares of the company's stock valued at $117,694,000 after purchasing an additional 2,239,592 shares in the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp grew its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 1.2% during the second quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 4,623,017 shares of the company's stock worth $102,631,000 after purchasing an additional 54,757 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Flowers Foods by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,720,302 shares of the company's stock valued at $82,592,000 after buying an additional 160,794 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Flowers Foods by 65.6% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,314,556 shares of the company's stock worth $29,104,000 after buying an additional 520,661 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.45% of the company's stock.

Flowers Foods Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of FLO traded up $0.37 on Monday, reaching $21.94. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,456,402 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,181,037. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $22.64 and a 200-day moving average of $22.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.62 billion, a PE ratio of 18.92, a PEG ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.36. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a twelve month low of $20.50 and a twelve month high of $26.12.

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

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Flowers Foods's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 84.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com raised Flowers Foods from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th.

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.