Nordea Investment Management AB Buys Shares of 216,550 Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Nordea Investment Management AB acquired a new position in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 216,550 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,461,000. Nordea Investment Management AB owned 0.10% of Flowers Foods at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,159,076 shares of the company's stock worth $95,971,000 after purchasing an additional 259,216 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its holdings in Flowers Foods by 85.0% during the third 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 holdings in Flowers Foods by 30.2% during the third 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 in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in Flowers Foods by 94.7% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 180,227 shares of the company's stock worth $4,158,000 after buying an additional 87,654 shares during the period. Finally, Martingale Asset Management L P purchased a new position in Flowers Foods in the third quarter valued at about $1,571,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.45% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Flowers Foods Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FLO traded down $0.93 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $19.01. 3,042,489 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,079,698. The stock has a market cap of $4.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.68, a PEG ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.39. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a twelve month low of $18.98 and a twelve month high of $26.12. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $21.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $22.21. 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 (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last announced its 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. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.20 billion. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 4.70% and a return on equity of 19.41%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.29 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis 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 presently 84.21%.

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.