Capstone Investment Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Capstone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 101,968 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,422,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of FLO. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in Flowers Foods by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 28,339 shares of the company's stock valued at $629,000 after acquiring an additional 813 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the 3rd quarter valued at $208,000. Bank of Nova Scotia acquired a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the 3rd quarter valued at $412,000. Gotham Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 32.5% in the 3rd quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 26,804 shares of the company's stock valued at $595,000 after purchasing an additional 6,572 shares during the period. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 10,660.1% in the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 272,231 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,037,000 after purchasing an additional 269,701 shares during the period. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

Shares of Flowers Foods stock traded down $0.01 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $21.92. 2,107,190 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 996,827. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 1 year low of $19.64 and a 1 year high of $26.33. The business has a fifty day moving average of $23.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $23.15. The company has a market capitalization of $4.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.65 and a beta of 0.36.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 16th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.02). Flowers Foods had a net margin of 2.45% and a return on equity of 18.35%. The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.38 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 6th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 6th. This is a positive change from Flowers Foods's previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. Flowers Foods's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 162.71%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Flowers Foods from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Flowers Foods from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $24.00.

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.