Raymond James Financial Inc. Takes Position in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 583,637 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,058,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned 0.28% of Flowers Foods at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of FLO. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of 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 period. Edgestream Partners L.P. grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 248,185 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB acquired a new position in shares of Flowers Foods during the fourth quarter worth $4,461,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 203,807 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 135,111 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.45% of the company's stock.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

NYSE FLO traded up $0.05 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $18.21. The company had a trading volume of 16,492,805 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,388,497. 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, Inc. has a 1-year low of $17.99 and a 1-year high of $26.12. The company has a market cap of $3.84 billion, a PE ratio of 15.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.41. The business has a 50 day moving average of $19.06 and a 200-day moving average of $21.03.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 in the prior year, the firm earned $0.20 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on FLO. DA Davidson lowered their target price on shares of Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Flowers Foods from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Flowers Foods from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Flowers Foods currently 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.