VELA Investment Management LLC Raises Position in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

VELA Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 23.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 33,106 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 6,371 shares during the quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $684,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in FLO. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Flowers Foods by 6.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,159,076 shares of the company’s stock valued at $95,971,000 after purchasing an additional 259,216 shares during the period. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC raised its position in Flowers Foods by 85.4% during the third quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 540,104 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,460,000 after purchasing an additional 248,800 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. raised its holdings 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 worth $7,079,000 after buying an additional 248,185 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB purchased a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods in the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,461,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings 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 worth $5,831,000 after buying an additional 203,807 shares during the period. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on FLO. Truist Financial reduced their price target on Flowers Foods from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. DA Davidson reduced their price target on Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.00.

Flowers Foods Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:FLO opened at $18.85 on Friday. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 52-week low of $17.99 and a 52-week high of $26.12. The stock has a market cap of $3.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.38. The business’s 50 day moving average is $19.62 and its 200 day moving average is $21.53. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 7th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (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 company earned $0.20 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.09%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 82.05%.

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.