Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Shares Purchased by Argyle Capital Management LLC

Argyle Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 6.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 67,118 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 4,100 shares during the period. Argyle Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $1,387,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. VELA Investment Management LLC increased its position in Flowers Foods by 23.8% during the 4th quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 33,106 shares of the company’s stock worth $684,000 after purchasing an additional 6,371 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods during the 4th quarter worth about $330,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 77.3% during the fourth quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 38,174 shares of the company’s stock worth $789,000 after buying an additional 16,639 shares in the last quarter. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 40.0% during the fourth quarter. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. now owns 147,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,037,000 after buying an additional 42,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 50,406 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,041,000 after buying an additional 1,300 shares during the last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Flowers Foods from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com cut Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, DA Davidson lowered their price objective 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 equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.00.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

Flowers Foods stock opened at $18.85 on Friday. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 1 year low of $17.99 and a 1 year high of $26.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.20. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $19.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.53. The company has a market cap of $3.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.11, a PEG ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.38.

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, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm posted $0.20 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.09%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio is presently 82.05%.

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.