Fisher Asset Management LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) by 3.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 886,349 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 32,320 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC owned 0.42% of Flowers Foods worth $18,312,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of FLO. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Flowers Foods by 6.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,159,076 shares of the company's stock worth $95,971,000 after purchasing an additional 259,216 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. grew its stake in Flowers Foods by 423.1% in the 3rd quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 306,848 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,079,000 after buying an additional 248,185 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB bought a new stake in Flowers Foods during the 4th quarter valued at $4,461,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 416.4% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 252,757 shares of the company's stock worth $5,831,000 after acquiring an additional 203,807 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 88.6% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 287,625 shares of the company's stock worth $6,636,000 after acquiring an additional 135,111 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.45% of the company's stock.

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Flowers Foods Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FLO traded up $0.76 on Friday, hitting $19.40. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,736,739 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,058,682. The company has a market capitalization of $4.09 billion, a PE ratio of 16.58, a PEG ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $19.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.38. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 1 year low of $17.99 and a 1 year high of $26.12.

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

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.95%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. Flowers Foods's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 82.05%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on FLO. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Flowers Foods from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. DA Davidson lowered their price target on shares of Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Flowers Foods from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Flowers Foods presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $21.00.

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.