Hyman Charles D Raises Holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Hyman Charles D increased its position in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 5.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 39,491 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,200 shares during the period. Hyman Charles D’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $889,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its stake in Flowers Foods by 37.0% during the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 4,583,334 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,171,000 after purchasing an additional 1,238,749 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods during the 3rd quarter valued at about $19,875,000. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods during the 4th quarter valued at about $11,518,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 64.9% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,082,210 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,361,000 after acquiring an additional 425,988 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in Flowers Foods in the third quarter worth about $9,078,000. 75.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FLO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. DA Davidson assumed coverage on Flowers Foods in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $24.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded Flowers Foods from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $24.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Flowers Foods news, Director Edward J. Jr. Casey bought 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $23.55 per share, for a total transaction of $117,750.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $478,771.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director Edward J. Jr. Casey purchased 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $23.55 per share, with a total value of $117,750.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 20,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $478,771.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Terry S. Thomas sold 36,577 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.11, for a total value of $845,294.47. Following the sale, the insider now owns 42,740 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $987,721.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 11.42% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Flowers Foods Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of FLO stock traded up $0.31 on Tuesday, reaching $25.09. 1,372,495 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,187,352. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $23.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.64. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 52 week low of $19.64 and a 52 week high of $29.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.30 billion, a PE ratio of 43.26, a P/E/G ratio of 4.71 and a beta of 0.37.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20. The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.13 billion. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 2.42% and a return on equity of 18.15%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.23 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.25 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were given a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.67%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio is presently 158.62%.

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.