New Age Alpha Advisors LLC Invests $2.75 Million in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 133,025 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,748,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of FLO. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,159,076 shares of the company’s stock valued at $95,971,000 after acquiring an additional 259,216 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 642.6% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 113,637 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,348,000 after purchasing an additional 98,335 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 85.0% in the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 72,886 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,681,000 after buying an additional 33,480 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 98.8% in the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 174,056 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,596,000 after buying an additional 86,510 shares during the period. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Flowers Foods during the fourth quarter worth about $825,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on FLO shares. StockNews.com downgraded Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. DA Davidson dropped their target price on Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Flowers Foods from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research 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 given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.00.

Flowers Foods Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of Flowers Foods stock opened at $18.87 on Friday. 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, Inc. has a 1-year low of $17.95 and a 1-year high of $26.12. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $18.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.86. The company has a market capitalization of $3.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.12, a PEG ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.41.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 7th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.20 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.