Cooke & Bieler LP Sells 84,660 Shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Cooke & Bieler LP reduced its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,453,063 shares of the company’s stock after selling 84,660 shares during the quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP owned approximately 2.59% of Flowers Foods worth $112,660,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in FLO. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the fourth quarter valued at $12,058,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 6.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,159,076 shares of the company’s stock valued at $95,971,000 after buying an additional 259,216 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. grew its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 423.1% in the third quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 306,848 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,079,000 after buying an additional 248,185 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB bought a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the fourth quarter valued at $4,461,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 416.4% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 252,757 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,831,000 after buying an additional 203,807 shares in the last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on FLO shares. 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. StockNews.com downgraded Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, DA Davidson cut their price target on Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. One equities 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Flowers Foods presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.00.

Flowers Foods Stock Up 1.1 %

FLO opened at $19.61 on Tuesday. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $17.99 and a fifty-two week high of $26.12. 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 $4.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.76, a P/E/G ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.41. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $19.36 and a 200-day moving average of $21.30.

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

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.90%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.05%.

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.