Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Boosts Stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 11.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,299,631 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 428,963 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $88,829,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FLO. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods in the fourth quarter worth about $276,000. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 642.6% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 113,637 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,348,000 after buying an additional 98,335 shares during the period. Ipsen Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods in the fourth quarter worth about $9,261,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 98.8% in the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 174,056 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,596,000 after buying an additional 86,510 shares during the period. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods in the fourth quarter worth about $825,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FLO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Flowers Foods from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. DA Davidson cut their price target on Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $21.00.

Flowers Foods Trading Down 1.0 %

NYSE:FLO opened at $17.68 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.20. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a one year low of $17.33 and a one year high of $26.12. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $18.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.11. The stock has a market cap of $3.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.40.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 previous year, the business earned $0.20 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors 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 5.43%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.