First Trust Advisors LP Raises Stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) by 8.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,753,061 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 221,860 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned approximately 1.31% of Flowers Foods worth $56,878,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of FLO. Wasatch Advisors LP acquired a new stake in Flowers Foods during the fourth quarter worth about $58,476,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods during the 4th quarter worth about $42,591,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Flowers Foods by 33.7% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,475,242 shares of the company's stock valued at $51,138,000 after buying an additional 623,800 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Flowers Foods in the fourth quarter valued at about $12,058,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Flowers Foods by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,737,981 shares of the company's stock worth $469,767,000 after buying an additional 518,745 shares during the period. 75.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Flowers Foods Stock Down 0.8 %

NYSE FLO traded down $0.13 during trading on Monday, reaching $17.72. 223,995 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,516,749. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $18.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $20.15. The stock has a market cap of $3.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.40. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 1 year low of $17.33 and a 1 year high of $26.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.20.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 7th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $0.20 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.42%. Flowers Foods's dividend payout ratio is presently 82.05%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on FLO shares. DA Davidson dropped their target price on Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. One equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $21.00.

Flowers Foods Company 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.