Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Increases Holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lifted its holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) by 77.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 38,174 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 16,639 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd's holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $789,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted 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 last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 85.4% during the 3rd quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 540,104 shares of the company's stock valued at $12,460,000 after purchasing an additional 248,800 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 423.1% during the 3rd quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 306,848 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,079,000 after purchasing an additional 248,185 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB bought a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods in the fourth quarter worth about $4,461,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 416.4% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 252,757 shares of the company's stock worth $5,831,000 after buying an additional 203,807 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.45% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. DA Davidson cut their price target on Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Flowers Foods from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Flowers Foods from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Flowers Foods currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $21.00.

Flowers Foods Trading Down 1.5 %

FLO stock traded down $0.29 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $18.72. 935,524 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,986,739. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.00, a P/E/G ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.20. The business has a 50 day moving average of $19.52 and a 200-day moving average of $21.45. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 52-week low of $17.99 and a 52-week high of $26.12.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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 last year, the firm 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 firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.13%. Flowers Foods's dividend payout ratio is 82.05%.

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.