Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Sells 266,281 Shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc cut its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) by 59.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 178,423 shares of the company's stock after selling 266,281 shares during the quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc owned 0.08% of Flowers Foods worth $3,686,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in FLO. Ethic Inc. increased its stake in Flowers Foods by 70.0% during the 4th quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 28,266 shares of the company's stock worth $584,000 after acquiring an additional 11,636 shares during the period. FORA Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods during the 4th quarter worth $415,000. Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in Flowers Foods by 285.2% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 77,300 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,597,000 after purchasing an additional 57,232 shares in the last quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. raised its stake in Flowers Foods by 205.9% in the fourth quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 220,732 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,560,000 after purchasing an additional 148,565 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in Flowers Foods by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 13,433 shares of the company's stock worth $278,000 after purchasing an additional 1,101 shares during the period. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FLO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Flowers Foods from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com cut shares of Flowers Foods from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Flowers Foods from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Flowers Foods currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $19.25.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FLO traded up $0.09 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $17.23. 341,252 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,592,966. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.43 and a 1-year high of $24.81. The company has a market capitalization of $3.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The business's 50 day moving average is $18.07 and its 200-day moving average is $19.57.

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

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.