Victory Capital Management Inc. Increases Stock Position in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) by 416.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 252,757 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 203,807 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned approximately 0.12% of Flowers Foods worth $5,831,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Flowers Foods in the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 2,008 shares during the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in Flowers Foods during the 3rd quarter valued at about $52,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Flowers Foods during the 2nd quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in Flowers Foods by 7,694.7% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,962 shares of the company's stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 2,924 shares during the last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Flowers Foods Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of Flowers Foods stock traded up $0.21 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $22.43. 1,358,141 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,498,146. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $22.54 and a 200-day moving average of $22.80. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 12 month low of $20.50 and a 12 month high of $26.12. The company has a market cap of $4.72 billion, a PE ratio of 19.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.23 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.24.

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

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.28%. Flowers Foods's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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 Tuesday.

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.