Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Holdings Decreased by Dark Forest Capital Management LP

Dark Forest Capital Management LP reduced its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) by 51.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 20,491 shares of the company's stock after selling 21,388 shares during the period. Dark Forest Capital Management LP's holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $423,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Barclays PLC increased its position in Flowers Foods by 88.6% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 287,625 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,636,000 after acquiring an additional 135,111 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 27,266 shares of the company's stock worth $629,000 after buying an additional 1,261 shares in the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp raised its position in Flowers Foods by 144.5% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 40,422 shares of the company's stock worth $933,000 after acquiring an additional 23,890 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 21.6% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 135,572 shares of the company's stock worth $3,080,000 after purchasing an additional 24,085 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB purchased a new stake in Flowers Foods in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $4,461,000. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on FLO. DA Davidson reduced their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Truist Financial cut 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 equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $21.00.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE FLO traded up $0.20 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $17.45. The company's stock had a trading volume of 452,200 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,533,364. 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, Inc. has a 1-year low of $17.21 and a 1-year high of $26.12. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $18.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $20.04. The firm has a market cap of $3.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.91, a P/E/G ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.40.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The company reported $0.22 EPS 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 quarter last year, the firm earned $0.20 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.50%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Flowers Foods's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 82.05%.

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.