Independent Advisor Alliance Raises Position in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 8.6% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 13,357 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,063 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $308,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of FLO. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in Flowers Foods by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 23,779 shares of the company’s stock worth $528,000 after purchasing an additional 466 shares in the last quarter. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 1.0% during the second quarter. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC now owns 52,779 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,172,000 after buying an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 2.9% during the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 21,728 shares of the company’s stock worth $482,000 after buying an additional 603 shares during the period. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI raised its holdings in Flowers Foods by 1.4% in the second quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI now owns 45,165 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,003,000 after acquiring an additional 625 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC lifted its stake in Flowers Foods by 5.6% in the second quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 15,924 shares of the company’s stock worth $354,000 after acquiring an additional 842 shares during the last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Flowers Foods Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FLO opened at $22.73 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $22.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.79 billion, a PE ratio of 19.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.36. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $20.50 and a fifty-two week high of $26.12. 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 issued its earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business posted $0.29 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 4.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.