Keene & Associates Inc. Sells 1,024 Shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Keene & Associates Inc. cut its holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 6.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 14,391 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,024 shares during the period. Keene & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $297,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Flowers Foods by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,159,076 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,971,000 after purchasing an additional 259,216 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings 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 worth $2,348,000 after buying an additional 98,335 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 85.0% in the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 72,886 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,681,000 after acquiring an additional 33,480 shares during the period. KBC Group NV grew its stake in Flowers Foods by 2,156.0% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 136,354 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,817,000 after acquiring an additional 130,310 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB bought a new stake in Flowers Foods during the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,461,000. 75.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

FLO stock opened at $18.34 on Wednesday. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a one year low of $17.99 and a one year high of $26.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market cap of $3.86 billion, a PE ratio of 15.68, a P/E/G ratio of 8.52 and a beta of 0.38. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $21.70.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 4.86%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.20 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.23%. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is 82.05%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FLO has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective 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, DA Davidson reduced their target price on Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.00.

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.