HB Wealth Management LLC Buys 3,034 Shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

HB Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 32.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 12,444 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,034 shares during the period. HB Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $296,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Flowers Foods by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,148,077 shares of the company’s stock worth $453,533,000 after purchasing an additional 84,001 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp grew its holdings in Flowers Foods by 37.0% in the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 4,583,334 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,171,000 after purchasing an additional 1,238,749 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in Flowers Foods by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,690,327 shares of the company’s stock worth $83,069,000 after purchasing an additional 37,237 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Flowers Foods by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,616,216 shares of the company’s stock worth $81,401,000 after purchasing an additional 18,730 shares during the period. Finally, Southeast Asset Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Flowers Foods by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Southeast Asset Advisors Inc. now owns 3,276,549 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,755,000 after purchasing an additional 125,761 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Flowers Foods from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $24.00.

Flowers Foods Stock Down 0.5 %

Flowers Foods stock traded down $0.12 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $21.81. 319,384 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,218,458. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 52-week low of $19.64 and a 52-week high of $26.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.65 and a beta of 0.36. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $23.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $23.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.02). Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 18.35% and a net margin of 2.45%. The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 6th were given a $0.24 dividend. This is a positive change from Flowers Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 6th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.40%. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is currently 162.71%.

Flowers Foods Company 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.