Rhumbline Advisers Acquires 5,147 Shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Rhumbline Advisers lifted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 0.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 615,403 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,147 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers owned approximately 0.29% of Flowers Foods worth $11,699,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FLO. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Flowers Foods by 34.4% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,713 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 694 shares during the last quarter. Mariner LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 112,027 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,314,000 after buying an additional 1,089 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 13,433 shares of the company’s stock worth $278,000 after acquiring an additional 1,101 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 36,133 shares of the company’s stock valued at $747,000 after acquiring an additional 1,148 shares during the period. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 41,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $851,000 after acquiring an additional 1,165 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on FLO. 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 research note on Monday, February 10th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Flowers Foods from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 16th. DA Davidson cut their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Flowers Foods from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $19.25.

Flowers Foods Trading Up 0.4%

NYSE:FLO opened at $16.77 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $3.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.34, a PEG ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.34. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $17.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.02. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 12 month low of $16.29 and a 12 month high of $23.87.

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

Flowers Foods Increases Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.90%. This is a boost from Flowers Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 91.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Flowers Foods

In other Flowers Foods news, Director William Jameson Mcfadden purchased 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $16.92 per share, with a total value of $50,760.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 532,476 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,009,493.92. The trade was a 0.57% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director George E. Deese purchased 6,000 shares of Flowers Foods stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $16.84 per share, for a total transaction of $101,040.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 2,004,990 shares in the company, valued at $33,764,031.60. This trade represents a 0.30% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired a total of 12,000 shares of company stock valued at $202,440 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 11.57% of the company’s stock.

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.