Venturi Wealth Management LLC Acquires 2,041 Shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 84.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,455 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,041 shares during the quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $103,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cooke & Bieler LP boosted its holdings in Flowers Foods by 73.1% in the second quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 5,301,518 shares of the company’s stock worth $117,694,000 after acquiring an additional 2,239,592 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 65.6% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,314,556 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,104,000 after purchasing an additional 520,661 shares during the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC bought a new position in Flowers Foods in the 2nd quarter worth about $10,392,000. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC grew its position in Flowers Foods by 85.4% during the 3rd quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 540,104 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,460,000 after purchasing an additional 248,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in Flowers Foods by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 5,851,682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $129,907,000 after purchasing an additional 242,797 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Flowers Foods from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

NYSE FLO opened at $21.83 on Friday. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a one year low of $20.50 and a one year high of $26.12. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $22.71 and a 200 day moving average of $22.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.24. The company has a market capitalization of $4.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.19, a PEG ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.36.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.20 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.29 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.27 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th were issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is currently 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.