Gamco Investors INC. ET AL Has $11.74 Million Stock Holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL cut its stake in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 567,997 shares of the company's stock after selling 18,400 shares during the quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL owned about 0.27% of Flowers Foods worth $11,735,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in FLO. Geode Capital Management LLC raised 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 acquiring an additional 259,216 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Flowers Foods during the 4th quarter worth approximately $276,000. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in Flowers Foods by 642.6% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 113,637 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,348,000 after buying an additional 98,335 shares in the last quarter. Ipsen Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in Flowers Foods during the 4th quarter valued at $9,261,000. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 85.0% in the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 72,886 shares of the company's stock worth $1,681,000 after acquiring an additional 33,480 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.45% of the company's stock.

Flowers Foods Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of FLO stock traded up $0.28 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $18.25. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,185,515 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,518,817. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $18.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $20.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.85 billion, a PE ratio of 15.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.40. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 12-month low of $17.33 and a 12-month high of $26.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 business earned $0.20 EPS. On average, research analysts predict 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. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. Flowers Foods's payout ratio is currently 82.05%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com lowered Flowers Foods from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. DA Davidson cut 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, 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 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 assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target 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.