Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Shares Acquired by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) by 267.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 204,371 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 148,753 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.10% of Flowers Foods worth $4,537,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods in the 1st quarter valued at $2,224,000. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Flowers Foods in the 1st quarter valued at $2,422,000. Armistice Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Flowers Foods in the 4th quarter valued at $839,000. Inceptionr LLC acquired a new stake in Flowers Foods in the 4th quarter valued at $321,000. Finally, Southeast Asset Advisors Inc. grew its position in Flowers Foods by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Southeast Asset Advisors Inc. now owns 3,276,549 shares of the company's stock valued at $73,755,000 after purchasing an additional 125,761 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.45% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on FLO shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Flowers Foods from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Flowers Foods in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $20.00 price target for the company. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Flowers Foods from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $22.75.

Flowers Foods Stock Up 1.3 %

FLO traded up $0.30 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $23.01. 977,803 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,227,306. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.86 billion, a PE ratio of 38.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.84 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $22.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $23.08. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 1 year low of $19.64 and a 1 year high of $26.12.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 16th. The company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.24 billion. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 2.45% and a return on equity of 18.35%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.33 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.23 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 6th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.17%. This is a boost from Flowers Foods's previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 6th. Flowers Foods's payout ratio is presently 162.71%.

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.