Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Invests $758,000 in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 36,713 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $758,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Flowers Foods in the fourth quarter valued at about $42,591,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Flowers Foods in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $12,058,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Flowers Foods by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,737,981 shares of the company's stock worth $469,767,000 after buying an additional 518,745 shares during the last quarter. Ipsen Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Flowers Foods during the 4th quarter worth about $9,261,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in 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 period. Institutional investors own 75.45% of the company's stock.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

Shares of FLO traded down $0.06 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $18.25. The company had a trading volume of 299,819 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,180,343. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $18.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.41. The company has a market capitalization of $3.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.59, a P/E/G ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.40. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 1-year low of $17.33 and a 1-year high of $26.12. 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 (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The company reported $0.22 EPS 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.20 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.26%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Flowers Foods's payout ratio is presently 82.05%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. DA Davidson decreased their price target 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. Truist Financial reduced their price target on Flowers Foods from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Flowers Foods from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $21.00.

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.