Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Shares Sold by Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD cut its position in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,236,792 shares of the company's stock after selling 197,783 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned approximately 3.91% of Flowers Foods worth $170,173,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new position in Flowers Foods in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its stake in Flowers Foods by 171.8% in the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 2,623 shares of the company's stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 1,658 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 34.4% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,713 shares of the company's stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 694 shares in the last quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Flowers Foods during the fourth quarter worth $60,000. Finally, Quent Capital LLC raised its stake in Flowers Foods by 104.2% in the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 3,049 shares of the company's stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 1,556 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.45% of the company's stock.

Flowers Foods Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of FLO traded up $0.21 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $17.46. The company had a trading volume of 527,675 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,533,671. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $17.21 and a fifty-two week high of $26.12. The stock has a market cap of $3.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.40. 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 firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $18.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $20.04.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last released 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 last year, the company posted $0.20 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. Flowers Foods's dividend payout ratio is presently 82.05%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on FLO shares. DA Davidson lowered their target price 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. Truist Financial reduced their target price 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Flowers Foods 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.