Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Purchases 3,402 Shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 0.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,011,505 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 3,402 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned about 0.96% of Flowers Foods worth $41,558,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D grew its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 1.5% during the third quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 86,130 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,987,000 after purchasing an additional 1,243 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 416.4% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 252,757 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,831,000 after acquiring an additional 203,807 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 23.2% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 6,044 shares of the company’s stock valued at $139,000 after acquiring an additional 1,140 shares in the last quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods during the 3rd quarter valued at about $208,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 71,278 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,644,000 after acquiring an additional 5,085 shares in the last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FLO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. DA Davidson cut 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. Finally, Truist Financial cut 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Flowers Foods presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.00.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:FLO opened at $18.39 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $19.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $21.19. 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 $3.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.71, a PEG ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.41. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 52 week low of $17.99 and a 52 week high of $26.12.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 7th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $0.20 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.22%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio 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.