HighTower Advisors LLC Purchases 28,911 Shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 103.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 56,833 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 28,911 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $1,174,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 4.4% during the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock valued at $273,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. ClearAlpha Technologies LP grew its position in Flowers Foods by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. ClearAlpha Technologies LP now owns 14,013 shares of the company’s stock worth $323,000 after purchasing an additional 590 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Flowers Foods by 34.4% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,713 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 694 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance raised its stake in Flowers Foods by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 13,357 shares of the company’s stock valued at $308,000 after buying an additional 1,063 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 32,191 shares of the company’s stock valued at $665,000 after buying an additional 1,066 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

Shares of Flowers Foods stock opened at $18.06 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.81 billion, a PE ratio of 15.44, a PEG ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.41. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $19.01 and a 200 day moving average of $20.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 12 month low of $17.95 and a 12 month high of $26.12.

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

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.32%. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is currently 82.05%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on FLO. DA Davidson cut their price target on Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. 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. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Flowers Foods presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.00.

Flowers Foods Company 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.