Wasatch Advisors LP Acquires Shares of 2,830,419 Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Wasatch Advisors LP bought a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,830,419 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $58,476,000. Wasatch Advisors LP owned about 1.34% of Flowers Foods at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Flowers Foods in the fourth quarter valued at about $42,591,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 33.7% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,475,242 shares of the company's stock worth $51,138,000 after acquiring an additional 623,800 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Flowers Foods in the 4th quarter valued at about $12,058,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Flowers Foods by 2.3% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Ipsen Advisor Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the fourth quarter worth about $9,261,000. 75.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on FLO. DA Davidson reduced 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 note on Monday, February 10th. Truist Financial cut their price target 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 assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $21.00.

Flowers Foods Trading Down 1.8 %

Flowers Foods stock traded down $0.32 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $17.94. 579,713 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,515,701. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 52-week low of $17.33 and a 52-week high of $26.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.33, a P/E/G ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.40. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $18.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $20.30.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.01. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 4.86% and a return on equity of 19.48%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.20 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.35%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Flowers Foods's dividend payout ratio is presently 82.05%.

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.