Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Shares Bought by Cooke & Bieler LP

Cooke & Bieler LP raised its holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) by 73.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,301,518 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 2,239,592 shares during the quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP owned 2.51% of Flowers Foods worth $117,694,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods during the first quarter worth $2,224,000. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Flowers Foods in the 1st quarter valued at about $2,422,000. Armistice Capital LLC acquired a new position in Flowers Foods in the 4th quarter valued at about $839,000. Inceptionr LLC acquired a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the fourth quarter valued at about $321,000. Finally, Southeast Asset Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Flowers Foods by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Southeast Asset Advisors Inc. now owns 3,276,549 shares of the company's stock worth $73,755,000 after acquiring an additional 125,761 shares during the period. 75.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. StockNews.com raised Flowers Foods from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. DA Davidson increased their price target on 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 report on Wednesday, July 10th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $20.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Flowers Foods from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $22.75.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

NYSE:FLO traded up $0.24 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $23.39. 952,637 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,213,704. The company has a market cap of $4.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $22.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.10. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 16th. The company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.03. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 2.51% and a return on equity of 18.97%. The business had revenue of $1.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.24 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.33 earnings per share. Flowers Foods's quarterly revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.10%. Flowers Foods's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 162.71%.

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.