Fisher Asset Management LLC Has $18.31 Million Position in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 3.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 886,349 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 32,320 shares during the quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.42% of Flowers Foods worth $18,312,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Flowers Foods by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,159,076 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,971,000 after purchasing an additional 259,216 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Flowers Foods by 642.6% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 113,637 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,348,000 after purchasing an additional 98,335 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its holdings in Flowers Foods by 85.0% in the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 72,886 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,681,000 after purchasing an additional 33,480 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in Flowers Foods by 2,156.0% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 136,354 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,817,000 after purchasing an additional 130,310 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB acquired a new stake in Flowers Foods in the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,461,000. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com lowered Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. 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. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price target on Flowers Foods from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given 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

FLO opened at $18.97 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $4.00 billion, a PE ratio of 16.21, a P/E/G ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 1 year low of $17.99 and a 1 year high of $26.12. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $19.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.45.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.20 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio is presently 82.05%.

Flowers Foods Company 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.