Ceredex Value Advisors LLC Purchases 248,800 Shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Ceredex Value Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) by 85.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 540,104 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 248,800 shares during the period. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.26% of Flowers Foods worth $12,460,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Flowers Foods by 18,254.5% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,019 shares of the company's stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 2,008 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in Flowers Foods during the 2nd quarter worth $59,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 7,694.7% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,962 shares of the company's stock worth $66,000 after buying an additional 2,924 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HHM Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 264.0% in the second quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,494 shares of the company's stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 2,534 shares during the period. 75.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Flowers Foods Price Performance

Shares of Flowers Foods stock traded down $0.03 on Friday, reaching $22.20. 1,494,131 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 855,993. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.19. The firm has a market cap of $4.68 billion, a PE ratio of 36.39, a P/E/G ratio of 4.32 and a beta of 0.36. The firm's 50 day moving average is $22.90 and its 200-day moving average is $23.07. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a one year low of $19.64 and a one year high of $26.12.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $1.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.24 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.33 EPS. The company's revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.32%. Flowers Foods's payout ratio is currently 157.38%.

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.