Ipsen Advisor Group LLC Makes New $9.26 Million Investment in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Ipsen Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 448,260 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,261,000. Flowers Foods makes up about 7.9% of Ipsen Advisor Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Ipsen Advisor Group LLC owned approximately 0.21% of Flowers Foods at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of FLO. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its position in Flowers Foods by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock valued at $273,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. ClearAlpha Technologies LP increased its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 4.4% during the third quarter. ClearAlpha Technologies LP now owns 14,013 shares of the company’s stock worth $323,000 after buying an additional 590 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in Flowers Foods by 34.4% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,713 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 694 shares in the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its stake in Flowers Foods by 8.6% in the third quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 13,357 shares of the company’s stock worth $308,000 after acquiring an additional 1,063 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in Flowers Foods by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 32,191 shares of the company’s stock worth $665,000 after acquiring an additional 1,066 shares in the last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FLO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. DA Davidson cut their price target on Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, StockNews.com cut 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 issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.00.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

NYSE FLO opened at $18.06 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $19.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $20.94. The company has a market capitalization of $3.81 billion, a PE ratio of 15.44, a P/E/G ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.41. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 1 year low of $17.95 and a 1 year high of $26.12. 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 (NYSE:FLO) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) 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 period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.20 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.32%. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is 82.05%.

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.