Wellington Management Group LLP Acquires New Position in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 51,651 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,067,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FLO. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 171.8% during the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 2,623 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 1,658 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 34.4% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,713 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 694 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 104.2% during the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 3,049 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 1,556 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 67.7% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,276 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,000 after buying an additional 1,323 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. acquired a new position in Flowers Foods in the fourth quarter worth approximately $245,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on FLO. DA Davidson reduced their target price on shares of Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. 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 report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.00.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

NYSE FLO opened at $18.47 on Monday. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 1 year low of $17.33 and a 1 year high of $26.12. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $18.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $20.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The company has a market cap of $3.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.79, a P/E/G ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.40.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $0.20 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.20%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio is 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.