Northern Trust Corp Increases Holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 22.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,742,145 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 314,670 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $35,993,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods during the 4th quarter valued at about $276,000. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 642.6% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 113,637 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,348,000 after purchasing an additional 98,335 shares during the period. Ipsen Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in Flowers Foods during the 4th quarter valued at $9,261,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its stake in Flowers Foods by 98.8% during the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 174,056 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,596,000 after buying an additional 86,510 shares during the period. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in Flowers Foods in the 4th quarter worth $825,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

Shares of Flowers Foods stock opened at $17.23 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.64 billion, a PE ratio of 14.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.37. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 1 year low of $17.17 and a 1 year high of $26.12. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $18.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.20.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.20 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.57%. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is 82.05%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FLO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. DA Davidson lowered their target price on Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Flowers Foods from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th.

About Flowers Foods

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.