Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Position Lessened by Cerity Partners LLC

Cerity Partners LLC lowered its stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 44.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,040 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,556 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $285,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FLO. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Flowers Foods during the fourth quarter valued at about $42,591,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Flowers Foods during the fourth quarter worth approximately $12,058,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake 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 valued at $469,767,000 after buying an additional 518,745 shares in the last quarter. Ipsen Advisor Group LLC bought a new stake in Flowers Foods during the fourth quarter worth about $9,261,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB acquired a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,461,000. 75.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. DA Davidson reduced their price target on Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.00.

Flowers Foods Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:FLO opened at $18.25 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.20. The company has a market capitalization of $3.85 billion, a PE ratio of 15.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.40. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 52-week low of $17.33 and a 52-week high of $26.12. The company has a fifty day moving average of $18.61 and a 200-day moving average of $20.24.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter last year, the firm earned $0.20 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.26%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.