First Horizon Advisors Inc. Boosts Holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 524.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,122 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,622 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $70,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Boston Trust Walden Corp grew its position in Flowers Foods by 37.0% during the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 4,583,334 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,171,000 after acquiring an additional 1,238,749 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Flowers Foods by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,815,094 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,259,000 after purchasing an additional 64,119 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp raised its holdings in Flowers Foods by 0.4% in the third quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 1,232,480 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,336,000 after buying an additional 5,207 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its position in Flowers Foods by 2.9% during the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 1,173,715 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,033,000 after buying an additional 32,618 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in Flowers Foods by 64.9% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,082,210 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,361,000 after buying an additional 425,988 shares during the period. 75.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Flowers Foods from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. DA Davidson started coverage on Flowers Foods in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $24.00 price objective on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Flowers Foods currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $24.00.

Flowers Foods Trading Up 1.3 %

NYSE FLO opened at $25.09 on Wednesday. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 52 week low of $19.64 and a 52 week high of $29.10. The stock has a market cap of $5.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.26, a PEG ratio of 4.71 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $23.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.64.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 9th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 2.42% and a return on equity of 18.15%. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.13 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.23 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.67%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio is presently 158.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Flowers Foods

In other news, insider Terry S. Thomas sold 36,577 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.11, for a total transaction of $845,294.47. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 42,740 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $987,721.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Terry S. Thomas sold 36,577 shares of Flowers Foods stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.11, for a total value of $845,294.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 42,740 shares in the company, valued at $987,721.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Edward J. Jr. Casey acquired 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $23.55 per share, for a total transaction of $117,750.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 20,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $478,771.50. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 11.42% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.