Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Purchases 67,750 Shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) by 6.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,066,470 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 67,750 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned approximately 0.51% of Flowers Foods worth $22,033,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of FLO. Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 15.5% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 23,596 shares of the company's stock worth $544,000 after acquiring an additional 3,173 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its position in Flowers Foods by 4.4% during the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 11,819 shares of the company's stock worth $273,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 12.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 28,099 shares of the company's stock valued at $648,000 after purchasing an additional 3,080 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 94.7% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 180,227 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,158,000 after purchasing an additional 87,654 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 586,008 shares of the company's stock worth $13,519,000 after buying an additional 7,844 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.45% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FLO has been the topic of a number of research reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Flowers Foods from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. DA Davidson lowered their target price on Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price target on Flowers Foods from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. One 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $21.00.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:FLO traded down $0.65 on Tuesday, reaching $17.68. 2,123,690 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,500,996. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a twelve month low of $17.55 and a twelve month high of $26.12. The company has a fifty day moving average of $18.79 and a 200-day moving average of $20.59. The company has a market capitalization of $3.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.11, a PEG 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.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (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 period in the previous year, the company earned $0.20 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.43%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Flowers Foods's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.