Millennium Management LLC Sells 395,138 Shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Millennium Management LLC cut its stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) by 56.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 306,746 shares of the company's stock after selling 395,138 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC owned about 0.15% of Flowers Foods worth $6,337,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of FLO. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Flowers Foods by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,737,981 shares of the company's stock valued at $469,767,000 after purchasing an additional 518,745 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Flowers Foods by 28.2% during the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,381,444 shares of the company's stock valued at $90,521,000 after purchasing an additional 965,097 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Flowers Foods by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,299,631 shares of the company's stock valued at $88,829,000 after purchasing an additional 428,963 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Flowers Foods by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,219,943 shares of the company's stock valued at $87,205,000 after purchasing an additional 60,867 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP acquired a new stake in Flowers Foods during the 4th quarter valued at $58,476,000. 75.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on FLO. DA Davidson dropped their price target on Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Flowers Foods from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Flowers Foods from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Flowers Foods from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Flowers Foods currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $19.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Flowers Foods news, Director William Jameson Mcfadden bought 3,000 shares of Flowers Foods stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $16.92 per share, for a total transaction of $50,760.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 532,476 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,009,493.92. The trade was a 0.57% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director George E. Deese purchased 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $16.84 per share, for a total transaction of $101,040.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 2,004,990 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $33,764,031.60. This represents a 0.30% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have acquired 12,000 shares of company stock worth $202,440. Corporate insiders own 11.57% of the company's stock.

Flowers Foods Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:FLO traded down $0.08 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $16.92. The company had a trading volume of 4,067,397 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,658,037. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 12 month low of $16.29 and a 12 month high of $23.87. 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 stock has a market cap of $3.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.46, a PEG ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.37. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $17.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $19.25.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, May 16th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.60 billion. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 4.86%. The business's revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 19th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.2475 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 5th. This is a positive change from Flowers Foods's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.85%. Flowers Foods's payout ratio is currently 91.67%.

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.