Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Stake Raised by Victory Capital Management Inc.

Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 11.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 281,806 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 29,049 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned about 0.13% of Flowers Foods worth $5,822,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,159,076 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,971,000 after purchasing an additional 259,216 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake 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 worth $46,327,000 after purchasing an additional 58,141 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 886,349 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,312,000 after purchasing an additional 32,320 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of 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, Edgestream Partners L.P. raised its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 423.1% during the 3rd quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 306,848 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,079,000 after purchasing an additional 248,185 shares in the last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on FLO. Truist Financial cut their price target on Flowers Foods from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com downgraded Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, DA Davidson lowered their price objective on Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.00.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE FLO opened at $18.39 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.20. The firm has a market cap of $3.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.71, a P/E/G ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.41. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $19.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.20. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 52 week low of $17.99 and a 52 week high of $26.12.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 last year, the business posted $0.20 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 82.05%.

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.