Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 83,542 Shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) by 11.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 639,506 shares of the company's stock after selling 83,542 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.30% of Flowers Foods worth $14,197,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC now owns 52,279 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,242,000 after buying an additional 474 shares in the last quarter. Argyle Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Argyle Capital Management Inc. now owns 66,018 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,568,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 80.3% during the 1st quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,208 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 538 shares during the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 166,773 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,961,000 after purchasing an additional 809 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 83,334 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,876,000 after purchasing an additional 810 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.45% of the company's stock.

Flowers Foods Stock Down 0.9 %

NYSE FLO traded down $0.22 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $23.45. 832,374 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,210,916. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 52-week low of $19.64 and a 52-week high of $26.12. The firm has a market cap of $4.95 billion, a PE ratio of 39.83, a PEG ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.36. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $23.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, August 16th. The company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.24 billion. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 2.51% and a return on equity of 18.97%. 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 company earned $0.33 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

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 dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.09%. Flowers Foods's payout ratio is 162.71%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on FLO shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Flowers Foods from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. BNP Paribas assumed 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 raised their price target on shares of Flowers Foods from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. One 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Flowers Foods currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $22.75.

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.