Blue Trust Inc. Purchases 694 Shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 34.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,713 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 694 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $56,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Flowers Foods by 6.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,159,076 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,971,000 after acquiring an additional 259,216 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,008,103 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,327,000 after purchasing an additional 58,141 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 854,029 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,702,000 after purchasing an additional 12,481 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in Flowers Foods by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 586,008 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,519,000 after purchasing an additional 7,844 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC increased its stake in Flowers Foods by 85.4% during the 3rd quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 540,104 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,460,000 after purchasing an additional 248,800 shares in the last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Flowers Foods Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of FLO opened at $19.36 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.20. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 52 week low of $17.99 and a 52 week high of $26.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.54, a PEG ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.38. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $19.69 and a 200-day moving average of $21.57.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.01. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 4.86% and a return on equity of 19.48%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.20 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.96%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio is 82.05%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on FLO. DA Davidson cut their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Truist Financial cut their price target on Flowers Foods from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.00.

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.