Empowered Funds LLC Has $2.81 Million Position in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 90.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 135,928 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 64,650 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Flowers Foods worth $2,808,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position 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 grew its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 642.6% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 113,637 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,348,000 after buying an additional 98,335 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC increased its holdings in Flowers Foods by 85.0% in the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 72,886 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,681,000 after buying an additional 33,480 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its position in Flowers Foods by 2,156.0% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 136,354 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,817,000 after acquiring an additional 130,310 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB acquired a new stake in Flowers Foods in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,461,000. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

NYSE:FLO opened at $18.79 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.96 billion, a PE ratio of 16.48, a PEG ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.38. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 1 year low of $18.34 and a 1 year high of $26.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $20.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.79.

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 19.41% and a net margin of 4.70%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.20 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.27 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on FLO. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Flowers Foods from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. DA Davidson cut their target price on Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com cut Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Flowers Foods presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.00.

Flowers Foods 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.