Renaissance Technologies LLC Sells 430,900 Shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Renaissance Technologies LLC lessened its holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) by 7.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,346,085 shares of the company's stock after selling 430,900 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned approximately 2.54% of Flowers Foods worth $110,450,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Flowers Foods during the 4th quarter worth about $42,591,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Flowers Foods by 33.7% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,475,242 shares of the company's stock worth $51,138,000 after acquiring an additional 623,800 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Flowers Foods during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $12,058,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Flowers Foods by 2.3% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Ipsen Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in Flowers Foods in the fourth quarter worth $9,261,000. 75.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on FLO shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Flowers Foods from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. DA Davidson decreased their target price on Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price target on 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $21.00.

Flowers Foods Stock Up 0.7 %

FLO traded up $0.13 during trading on Monday, hitting $18.61. The company had a trading volume of 321,354 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,197,303. The company has a market capitalization of $3.92 billion, a PE ratio of 15.91, a PEG ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.40. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $17.33 and a one year high of $26.12. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $18.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $20.46.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 7th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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, equities analysts expect that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.16%. Flowers Foods's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.05%.

Flowers Foods 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.