Hsbc Holdings PLC Sells 154,958 Shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Hsbc Holdings PLC trimmed its stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 47.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 169,037 shares of the company’s stock after selling 154,958 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $3,472,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of FLO. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,737,981 shares of the company’s stock worth $469,767,000 after purchasing an additional 518,745 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,299,631 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,829,000 after acquiring an additional 428,963 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,219,943 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,205,000 after purchasing an additional 60,867 shares during the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP bought a new position in Flowers Foods during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $58,476,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Flowers Foods by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,753,061 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,878,000 after purchasing an additional 221,860 shares during the last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Truist Financial lowered their target price on Flowers Foods from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $21.00.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

NYSE:FLO opened at $17.59 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $18.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $20.09. 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, Inc. has a 52-week low of $17.33 and a 52-week high of $26.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.71 billion, a PE ratio of 15.03, a P/E/G ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.40.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last issued its earnings results 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 net margin of 4.86% and a return on equity of 19.48%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.20 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors 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 yield of 5.46%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.