Rhumbline Advisers Boosts Stock Holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 0.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 610,256 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 640 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers’ holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $12,608,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Flowers Foods by 6.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,159,076 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,971,000 after acquiring an additional 259,216 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Flowers Foods by 3.0% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,008,103 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,327,000 after acquiring an additional 58,141 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Flowers Foods by 1.5% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 854,029 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,702,000 after acquiring an additional 12,481 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in Flowers Foods by 1.4% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 586,008 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,519,000 after acquiring an additional 7,844 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 85.4% in the 3rd quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 540,104 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,460,000 after buying an additional 248,800 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Flowers Foods Stock Up 1.8 %

FLO stock opened at $19.41 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.60. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 12 month low of $17.99 and a 12 month high of $26.12. The company has a market capitalization of $4.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.38.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 previous year, the company posted $0.20 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.05%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Flowers Foods presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.00.

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.