Natixis Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Natixis Advisors LLC cut its position in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 41.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 10,130 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,154 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $209,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 4.4% in the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock worth $273,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the period. ClearAlpha Technologies LP grew its position in Flowers Foods by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. ClearAlpha Technologies LP now owns 14,013 shares of the company’s stock worth $323,000 after purchasing an additional 590 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Flowers Foods by 34.4% in the 4th 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 period. Independent Advisor Alliance raised its stake in Flowers Foods by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 13,357 shares of the company’s stock valued at $308,000 after buying an additional 1,063 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 32,191 shares of the company’s stock valued at $665,000 after buying an additional 1,066 shares during the period. 75.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE FLO opened at $18.87 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.98 billion, a PE ratio of 16.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.41. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 1 year low of $17.95 and a 1 year high of $26.12. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $18.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $20.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.01. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 4.86% and a return on equity of 19.48%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.20 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders 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 5.09%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is currently 82.05%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on FLO. DA Davidson cut their price objective on Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. 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 research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently 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.