VELA Investment Management LLC Lowers Holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

VELA Investment Management LLC trimmed its position in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 69.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 26,735 shares of the company’s stock after selling 61,697 shares during the quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $617,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the 1st quarter worth $2,224,000. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the 1st quarter worth $2,422,000. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System raised its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 10.8% in the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 247,530 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,879,000 after acquiring an additional 24,192 shares in the last quarter. AMG National Trust Bank bought a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the 2nd quarter worth $711,000. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new position in Flowers Foods during the 1st quarter valued at about $4,644,000. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

FLO stock traded down $0.03 during trading on Friday, hitting $22.20. 1,494,131 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,159,330. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $22.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $23.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The company has a market cap of $4.68 billion, a PE ratio of 36.41, a P/E/G ratio of 4.29 and a beta of 0.36. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 1 year low of $19.64 and a 1 year high of $26.12.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 16th. The company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.24 billion. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 18.97% and a net margin of 2.51%. Flowers Foods’s quarterly revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.33 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.32%. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is 157.38%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on Flowers Foods in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $20.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com lowered Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.75.

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.