UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp Sells 16,030 Shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp reduced its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 23.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 53,178 shares of the company’s stock after selling 16,030 shares during the period. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $1,099,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Brooklyn Investment Group increased its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 171.8% during the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 2,623 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 1,658 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in Flowers Foods by 34.4% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,713 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 694 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC raised its stake in Flowers Foods by 104.2% during the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 3,049 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 1,556 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Flowers Foods by 67.7% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,276 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 1,323 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 329,400.0% in the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 3,295 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 3,294 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Flowers Foods Price Performance

FLO opened at $18.51 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $19.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $20.92. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 52-week low of $17.95 and a 52-week high of $26.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.82, a P/E/G ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.20.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 period in the previous year, the company earned $0.20 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.