Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Acquires New Holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 71,352 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,646,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in Flowers Foods by 94.7% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 180,227 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,158,000 after purchasing an additional 87,654 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Flowers Foods by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 28,099 shares of the company's stock valued at $648,000 after buying an additional 3,080 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 193.1% in the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 77,160 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,780,000 after buying an additional 50,835 shares in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 11,819 shares of the company's stock worth $273,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the period. Finally, Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 13,357 shares of the company's stock worth $308,000 after acquiring an additional 1,063 shares in the last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

NYSE FLO traded up $0.21 during trading on Monday, hitting $22.83. 1,575,942 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,191,385. The company has a market cap of $4.81 billion, a PE ratio of 19.84, a P/E/G ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $21.20 and a fifty-two week high of $26.12. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $22.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.67.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 in the previous year, the firm posted $0.29 EPS. The firm's revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.27 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.20%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. Flowers Foods's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 84.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Flowers Foods from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th.

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.