Corient Private Wealth LLC Invests $677,000 in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Corient Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 32,768 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $677,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Flowers Foods during the 4th quarter worth about $12,058,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 6.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,159,076 shares of the company's stock worth $95,971,000 after buying an additional 259,216 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. grew its holdings in Flowers Foods by 423.1% during the third quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 306,848 shares of the company's stock worth $7,079,000 after acquiring an additional 248,185 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB purchased a new position in Flowers Foods during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,461,000. Finally, Moran Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Flowers Foods in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,940,000. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:FLO remained flat at $18.94 during midday trading on Wednesday. The stock had a trading volume of 1,878,178 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,472,980. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $18.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $20.77. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 52-week low of $17.95 and a 52-week high of $26.12. The stock has a market cap of $3.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.19, a P/E/G ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.41. 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 (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last announced its 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 net margin of 4.86% and a return on equity of 19.48%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.20 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.07%. Flowers Foods's payout ratio is currently 82.05%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on FLO. DA Davidson dropped 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. StockNews.com lowered shares of Flowers Foods from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Flowers Foods has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $21.00.

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.