Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Shares Sold by Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd reduced its holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 51.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 21,535 shares of the company’s stock after selling 22,607 shares during the quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $497,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of FLO. AMG National Trust Bank acquired a new stake in Flowers Foods in the second quarter valued at $711,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 267.5% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 204,371 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,537,000 after purchasing an additional 148,753 shares in the last quarter. Thomasville National Bank lifted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 30.2% in the third quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 429,014 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,897,000 after purchasing an additional 99,599 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in Flowers Foods by 94.7% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 180,227 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,158,000 after buying an additional 87,654 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Martingale Asset Management L P purchased a new stake in Flowers Foods during the third quarter worth about $1,571,000. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Flowers Foods from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday.

Flowers Foods Stock Down 0.1 %

FLO stock opened at $21.21 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 12 month low of $20.95 and a 12 month high of $26.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.47 billion, a PE ratio of 18.61, a P/E/G ratio of 4.04 and a beta of 0.37. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $22.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.54.

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

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.53%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. 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.