Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Shares Purchased by National Bank of Canada FI

National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) by 4,819.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 57,800 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 56,625 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI's holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $1,333,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position 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 buying an additional 148,753 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates grew its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 39.0% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 75,289 shares of the company's stock worth $1,671,000 after purchasing an additional 21,118 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 69.6% during the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 5,489 shares of the company's stock worth $122,000 after purchasing an additional 2,252 shares during the last quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Flowers Foods in the 2nd quarter valued at about $251,000. Finally, AMG National Trust Bank acquired a new position in Flowers Foods in the second quarter valued at about $711,000. 75.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Flowers Foods Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of FLO stock traded down $0.02 on Friday, hitting $21.21. The stock had a trading volume of 2,068,197 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,204,649. The company's 50 day moving average price is $22.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $22.54. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 1 year low of $20.95 and a 1 year high of $26.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.61, a P/E/G ratio of 4.04 and a beta of 0.37.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (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 analyst estimates of $1.20 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.29 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.53%. Flowers Foods's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 84.21%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of Flowers Foods from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday.

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.