Fox Run Management L.L.C. Invests $359,000 in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Fox Run Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 17,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $359,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods during the fourth quarter valued at about $12,058,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased 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 during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. increased its holdings in Flowers Foods by 423.1% during the 3rd quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 306,848 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,079,000 after purchasing an additional 248,185 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB acquired a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $4,461,000. Finally, Moran Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Flowers Foods during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,940,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

Shares of FLO opened at $18.51 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.90 billion, a PE ratio of 15.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.41. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $19.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $20.92. 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 12-month low of $17.95 and a 12-month high of $26.12.

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

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.19%. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is currently 82.05%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. DA Davidson dropped their price target on shares of 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 target price 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. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.00.

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.