Bridgewater Associates LP Has $3.25 Million Holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Bridgewater Associates LP lessened its holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 52.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 140,773 shares of the company’s stock after selling 154,109 shares during the quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $3,248,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Flowers Foods by 128.2% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,305 shares of the company’s stock valued at $118,000 after acquiring an additional 2,980 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 7,694.7% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,962 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 2,924 shares during the period. CWM LLC increased its holdings in Flowers Foods by 1,006.9% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 11,567 shares of the company’s stock valued at $257,000 after purchasing an additional 10,522 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Flowers Foods in the second quarter valued at about $1,619,000. Finally, Signature Wealth Management Group boosted its holdings in Flowers Foods by 0.9% during the second quarter. Signature Wealth Management Group now owns 159,605 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,543,000 after buying an additional 1,488 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

FLO opened at $22.62 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.84, a P/E/G ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.36. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 12 month low of $20.50 and a 12 month high of $26.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.69.

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

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is currently 84.21%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com cut Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th.

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.