Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Shares Sold by Asset Management One Co. Ltd.

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. decreased its holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 22.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 99,180 shares of the company’s stock after selling 28,358 shares during the quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $2,030,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 88.1% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 18,331 shares of the company’s stock worth $379,000 after purchasing an additional 8,587 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC grew its position in Flowers Foods by 104.2% during the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 3,049 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 1,556 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP grew its position in Flowers Foods by 55.2% during the fourth quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 14,516 shares of the company’s stock worth $300,000 after buying an additional 5,161 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in Flowers Foods by 90.7% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 135,928 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,808,000 after buying an additional 64,650 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods in the fourth quarter valued at about $245,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Flowers Foods Price Performance

Shares of FLO stock opened at $18.89 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $3.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.14, a P/E/G ratio of 8.52 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 1-year low of $17.99 and a 1-year high of $26.12. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $19.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $21.65.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $0.20 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.17 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. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.08%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.