JPMorgan Chase & Co. Trims Position in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. trimmed its position in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) by 6.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 682,752 shares of the company's stock after selling 43,313 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned 0.32% of Flowers Foods worth $15,751,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of FLO. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 6.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,159,076 shares of the company's stock valued at $95,971,000 after purchasing an additional 259,216 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 85.0% during the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 72,886 shares of the company's stock worth $1,681,000 after buying an additional 33,480 shares in the last quarter. Thomasville National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 30.2% in the 3rd quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 429,014 shares of the company's stock worth $9,897,000 after buying an additional 99,599 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 87,654 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Martingale Asset Management L P purchased a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,571,000. 75.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com cut Flowers Foods from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

FLO traded down $0.93 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $19.01. The company had a trading volume of 3,042,489 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,079,698. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 12-month low of $18.98 and a 12-month high of $26.12. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $21.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $22.21. The stock has a market cap of $4.00 billion, a PE ratio of 16.68, a P/E/G ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.39. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 analysts' expectations of $1.20 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.29 EPS. Flowers Foods's revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. Flowers Foods's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 84.21%.

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.