Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC Has $7.95 Million Stock Holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) by 14.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 384,770 shares of the company's stock after selling 63,830 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC owned 0.18% of Flowers Foods worth $7,949,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in FLO. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Flowers Foods by 2.3% in the 4th 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. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,299,631 shares of the company's stock valued at $88,829,000 after purchasing an additional 428,963 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,219,943 shares of the company's stock valued at $87,205,000 after buying an additional 60,867 shares during the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP acquired a new position in shares of Flowers Foods during the fourth quarter worth approximately $58,476,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in Flowers Foods by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,753,061 shares of the company's stock worth $56,878,000 after buying an additional 221,860 shares in the last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

NYSE FLO traded down $0.16 on Friday, reaching $17.83. 1,307,309 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,522,424. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 12 month low of $17.33 and a 12 month high of $26.12. The company has a market cap of $3.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.24, a P/E/G ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.40. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $18.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.18. 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 announced its earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share 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 quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.20 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.38%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Flowers Foods's dividend payout ratio is presently 82.05%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Truist Financial cut their target price 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 cut 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average 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.