SG Americas Securities LLC Lowers Position in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

SG Americas Securities LLC lessened its stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) by 79.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,302 shares of the company's stock after selling 57,637 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC's holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $353,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Cooke & Bieler LP grew its position in Flowers Foods by 73.1% during the second quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 5,301,518 shares of the company's stock valued at $117,694,000 after buying an additional 2,239,592 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 65.6% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,314,556 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,104,000 after acquiring an additional 520,661 shares during the period. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the 2nd quarter valued at about $10,392,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in Flowers Foods by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 5,851,682 shares of the company's stock worth $129,907,000 after purchasing an additional 242,797 shares during the period. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC purchased a new position in Flowers Foods during the first quarter worth approximately $4,644,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.45% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on FLO. BNP Paribas began coverage on Flowers Foods in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $20.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com lowered shares of Flowers Foods from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Flowers Foods has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $22.75.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

Shares of Flowers Foods stock traded down $0.11 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $22.96. 664,550 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,164,660. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.85 billion, a PE ratio of 38.92, a PEG ratio of 4.32 and a beta of 0.36. The business has a 50-day moving average of $23.00 and a 200 day moving average of $23.12. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $19.64 and a fifty-two week high of $26.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 16th. The company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.03. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 18.97% and a net margin of 2.51%. The company had revenue of $1.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.24 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.33 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.26 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.18%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. Flowers Foods's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.