Van ECK Associates Corp Reduces Position in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Van ECK Associates Corp decreased its stake in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 27.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,744 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,773 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $218,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in Flowers Foods by 4.3% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 5,851,682 shares of the company’s stock worth $129,907,000 after buying an additional 242,797 shares in the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP grew its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 73.1% in the second 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 grew its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 1.2% in the second 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. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 4.5% in the second 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. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 65.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,314,556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,104,000 after purchasing an additional 520,661 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com raised Flowers Foods from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

FLO stock opened at $21.65 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $22.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $22.93. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 12-month low of $20.50 and a 12-month high of $26.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The company has a market cap of $4.56 billion, a PE ratio of 18.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.36.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.03. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 19.41% and a net margin of 4.70%. The firm had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.29 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.27 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio is presently 84.21%.

About Flowers Foods

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.