Verition Fund Management LLC Lowers Holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Verition Fund Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 69.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 23,440 shares of the company’s stock after selling 53,732 shares during the quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $541,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Flowers Foods by 18,254.5% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,019 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 2,008 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in Flowers Foods in the third quarter valued at $52,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Flowers Foods in the second quarter valued at $59,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 329,400.0% during the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 3,295 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 3,294 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th.

Flowers Foods Stock Down 2.6 %

Shares of NYSE FLO opened at $21.29 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $22.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $22.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 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 52 week low of $21.20 and a 52 week high of $26.12.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.20 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.29 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio is presently 84.21%.

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.