Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Shares Purchased by Dimensional Fund Advisors LP

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 11.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 4,299,631 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 428,963 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned 2.04% of Flowers Foods worth $88,829,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of FLO. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new position in Flowers Foods during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its holdings in Flowers Foods by 171.8% during the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 2,623 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 1,658 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in Flowers Foods by 34.4% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,713 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 694 shares during the last quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Flowers Foods during the fourth quarter worth $60,000. Finally, Quent Capital LLC raised its holdings in Flowers Foods by 104.2% during the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 3,049 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 1,556 shares during the last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

Flowers Foods stock opened at $17.68 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.11, a PEG ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.40. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $18.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $20.11. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 52 week low of $17.33 and a 52 week high of $26.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 last year, the company earned $0.20 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.05%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in 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 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 for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.