Ceredex Value Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Ceredex Value Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 6.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 503,854 shares of the company’s stock after selling 36,250 shares during the quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $10,410,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Guggenheim Capital LLC grew its position in Flowers Foods by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 32,179 shares of the company’s stock worth $665,000 after acquiring an additional 4,526 shares in the last quarter. Mariner LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 112,027 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,314,000 after purchasing an additional 1,089 shares during the period. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Flowers Foods by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 66,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,379,000 after buying an additional 2,940 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Flowers Foods by 57.7% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 11,263 shares of the company’s stock worth $233,000 after buying an additional 4,119 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in Flowers Foods by 622.5% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 3,049 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 2,627 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Flowers Foods Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of FLO opened at $17.98 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.37, a PEG ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 1-year low of $17.33 and a 1-year high of $26.12. The company has a 50-day moving average of $18.64 and a 200 day moving average of $20.39.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (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 last year, the business earned $0.20 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.34%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.05%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FLO has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective 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. Finally, DA Davidson cut 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given 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 price target 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.