Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Shares Sold by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc lessened its stake in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) by 4.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 390,594 shares of the company's stock after selling 17,773 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.19% of Flowers Foods worth $8,070,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its stake 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. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 88.6% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 287,625 shares of the company's stock worth $6,636,000 after buying an additional 135,111 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position 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 valued at $95,971,000 after buying an additional 259,216 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in Flowers Foods by 4.8% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 27,266 shares of the company's stock worth $629,000 after acquiring an additional 1,261 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp grew its stake in Flowers Foods by 144.5% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 40,422 shares of the company's stock valued at $933,000 after acquiring an additional 23,890 shares in the last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Flowers Foods from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. DA Davidson decreased 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. One equities 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. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $21.00.

Flowers Foods Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of FLO stock traded down $0.21 on Wednesday, reaching $18.21. 542,072 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,516,834. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a twelve month low of $17.33 and a twelve month high of $26.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The company has a market capitalization of $3.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.55, a PEG ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.40. The business's 50 day moving average price is $18.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $20.26.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 7th. The company reported $0.22 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 prior year, the company posted $0.20 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. Flowers Foods's payout ratio is currently 82.05%.

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.