Handelsbanken Fonder AB Buys 1,300 Shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its stake in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 2.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 50,406 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,300 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $1,041,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of FLO. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 6.6% during 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 last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC grew its stake in Flowers Foods by 85.4% in the third quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 540,104 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,460,000 after acquiring an additional 248,800 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. grew its stake in Flowers Foods by 423.1% in the third quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 306,848 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,079,000 after acquiring an additional 248,185 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB acquired a new position in Flowers Foods in the fourth quarter valued at about $4,461,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in 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. Institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FLO has been the topic of a number of research reports. DA Davidson cut their price target on 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 dropped their price objective on 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 Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.00.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

Flowers Foods stock opened at $18.85 on Friday. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 12 month low of $17.99 and a 12 month high of $26.12. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $19.62 and its 200-day moving average is $21.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The company has a market capitalization of $3.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.11, a PEG ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.38.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last issued 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 return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 4.86%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.20 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.09%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.