Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) by 29.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 453,312 shares of the company's stock after selling 186,194 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.22% of Flowers Foods worth $10,458,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 21.6% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 135,572 shares of the company's stock worth $3,080,000 after buying an additional 24,085 shares during the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp increased its holdings in Flowers Foods by 144.5% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 40,422 shares of the company's stock valued at $933,000 after acquiring an additional 23,890 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC raised its position in Flowers Foods by 4.8% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 27,266 shares of the company's stock worth $629,000 after acquiring an additional 1,261 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 6.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,159,076 shares of the company's stock valued at $95,971,000 after purchasing an additional 259,216 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 88.6% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 287,625 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,636,000 after purchasing an additional 135,111 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.45% of the company's stock.

Flowers Foods Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of FLO traded up $0.11 on Tuesday, hitting $20.66. 1,056,337 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,224,657. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.12, a P/E/G ratio of 4.04 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 1 year low of $20.21 and a 1 year high of $26.12. The stock's 50 day moving average is $21.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $22.35.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.20 billion. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 19.41% and a net margin of 4.70%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.29 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.65%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. Flowers Foods's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 84.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com lowered Flowers Foods from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th.

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.