Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Has $835,000 Stock Position in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lessened its stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 2.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 35,174 shares of the company’s stock after selling 996 shares during the quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $835,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC raised its position in Flowers Foods by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC now owns 52,279 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,242,000 after buying an additional 474 shares during the last quarter. Gladius Capital Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 46.4% during the 3rd quarter. Gladius Capital Management LP now owns 1,539 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 488 shares during the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 83,334 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,876,000 after acquiring an additional 810 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 3.0% in the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 28,339 shares of the company’s stock valued at $629,000 after acquiring an additional 813 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Imprint Wealth LLC grew its stake in Flowers Foods by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Imprint Wealth LLC now owns 14,490 shares of the company’s stock valued at $326,000 after purchasing an additional 818 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on FLO. StockNews.com raised shares of Flowers Foods from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $24.00.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE FLO traded down $0.09 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $21.84. 106,646 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,216,797. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a twelve month low of $19.64 and a twelve month high of $26.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.17, a P/E/G ratio of 5.65 and a beta of 0.36. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $23.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 16th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 18.35% and a net margin of 2.45%. The company’s revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.38 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowers Foods Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 6th were given a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 6th. This is a boost from Flowers Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is presently 162.71%.

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.