Coston McIsaac & Partners Has $4.33 Million Stock Holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Coston McIsaac & Partners boosted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 3.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 182,563 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 6,761 shares during the period. Coston McIsaac & Partners owned approximately 0.09% of Flowers Foods worth $4,334,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Flowers Foods by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,148,077 shares of the company’s stock worth $453,533,000 after buying an additional 84,001 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its position in Flowers Foods by 37.0% during 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 boosted its position in Flowers Foods by 1.0% during 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 boosted its position in Flowers Foods by 0.5% during 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. lifted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Southeast Asset Advisors Inc. now owns 3,276,549 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,755,000 after buying an additional 125,761 shares in the last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Flowers Foods Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:FLO traded down $0.15 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $22.20. 1,740,939 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,145,981. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.63, a P/E/G ratio of 5.72 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.11. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $23.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $23.16. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 12 month low of $19.64 and a 12 month high of $26.33.

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). The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 18.35% and a net margin of 2.45%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowers Foods Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 6th were issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 6th. This is a boost from Flowers Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.32%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio is presently 162.71%.

Insider Activity at Flowers Foods

In related news, Director Edward J. Jr. Casey bought 5,000 shares of Flowers Foods stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $23.55 per share, for a total transaction of $117,750.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 20,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $478,771.50. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 11.42% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.