Ameriprise Financial Inc. Boosts Position in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 217,032 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,238 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.10% of Flowers Foods worth $4,484,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 22.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,742,145 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,993,000 after purchasing an additional 314,670 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the 4th quarter valued at about $276,000. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in Flowers Foods by 642.6% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 113,637 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,348,000 after acquiring an additional 98,335 shares during the period. Ipsen Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in Flowers Foods in the 4th quarter worth about $9,261,000. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its stake in Flowers Foods by 98.8% in the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 174,056 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,596,000 after purchasing an additional 86,510 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 firms have recently issued reports on FLO. DA Davidson dropped their price target on Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Flowers Foods from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Flowers Foods from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their target price on Flowers Foods from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $19.25.

Flowers Foods Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of Flowers Foods stock opened at $16.49 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $17.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.41. 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 $3.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.09, a PEG ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.37. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 1 year low of $16.29 and a 1 year high of $23.87.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 16th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.03). Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 4.86%. The firm had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.60 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.38 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowers Foods Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 19th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be issued a $0.2475 dividend. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 5th. This is a boost from Flowers Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio is currently 88.89%.

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.