Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 4,954 Shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 448,358 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,954 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.21% of Flowers Foods worth $9,263,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FLO. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in Flowers Foods by 18,254.5% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,019 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 2,008 shares during the period. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in Flowers Foods during the third quarter worth $52,000. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 171.8% in the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 2,623 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 1,658 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 104.2% in the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 3,049 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 1,556 shares during the period. Finally, Quest Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 329,400.0% in the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 3,295 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 3,294 shares during the period. 75.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on FLO. DA Davidson reduced their target price on shares of Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Flowers Foods from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Flowers Foods currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.00.

Flowers Foods Trading Down 0.6 %

FLO opened at $18.76 on Friday. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a twelve month low of $17.99 and a twelve month high of $26.12. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $19.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.03, a P/E/G ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.38.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 7th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 previous year, the business earned $0.20 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.12%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 82.05%.

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.