Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC Sells 1,994 Shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 526,806 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,994 shares during the quarter. Flowers Foods makes up 0.9% of Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $10,884,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vestcor Inc increased its holdings in Flowers Foods by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 391,465 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,088,000 after buying an additional 10,100 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 393,463 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,129,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Flowers Foods during the 4th quarter worth about $825,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 67.7% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,276 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 1,323 shares during the period. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Flowers Foods by 103.5% in the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 56,833 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,174,000 after purchasing an additional 28,911 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

FLO opened at $18.52 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $19.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.24. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 1 year low of $17.99 and a 1 year high of $26.12. The company 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.

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 net margin of 4.86% and a return on equity of 19.48%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.20 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 5.18%. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is 82.05%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FLO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. 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 research note on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com cut Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, DA Davidson reduced their price objective on shares of 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 given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently 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.