JPMorgan Chase & Co. Has $15.75 Million Stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. lessened its stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 6.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 682,752 shares of the company’s stock after selling 43,313 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $15,751,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Flowers Foods by 21.6% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 135,572 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,080,000 after purchasing an additional 24,085 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 144.5% in the third 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% in 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake 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 buying an additional 259,216 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its stake in Flowers Foods by 88.6% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 287,625 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,636,000 after buying an additional 135,111 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com lowered shares of Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th.

Flowers Foods Trading Down 4.7 %

FLO stock opened at $19.01 on Friday. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a one year low of $18.98 and a one year high of $26.12. The company has a market capitalization of $4.00 billion, a PE ratio of 16.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.39. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $21.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.22. 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) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.03. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 4.70% and a return on equity of 19.41%. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.20 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.29 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.05%. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is 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.