Hsbc Holdings PLC Reduces Holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Hsbc Holdings PLC decreased its position in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 5.8% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 339,522 shares of the company’s stock after selling 21,050 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $7,514,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FLO. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,148,077 shares of the company’s stock valued at $453,533,000 after buying an additional 84,001 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in Flowers Foods by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 5,851,682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $129,907,000 after purchasing an additional 242,797 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP boosted its stake in Flowers Foods by 73.1% during the 2nd quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 5,301,518 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,694,000 after purchasing an additional 2,239,592 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its stake in Flowers Foods by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 4,623,017 shares of the company’s stock valued at $102,631,000 after purchasing an additional 54,757 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Flowers Foods by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,720,302 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,592,000 after purchasing an additional 160,794 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Flowers Foods Stock Down 1.2 %

NYSE FLO opened at $23.16 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The company has a market capitalization of $4.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.25, a PEG ratio of 4.36 and a beta of 0.36. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 12 month low of $19.64 and a 12 month high of $26.12. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $22.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $23.17.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 16th. The company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.24 billion. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 2.51% and a return on equity of 18.97%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.33 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th were given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.15%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 162.71%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on FLO shares. BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Flowers Foods in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $20.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com lowered shares of Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.75.

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.