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

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp cut its holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 23.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund 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.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. ClearAlpha Technologies LP increased its stake in Flowers Foods by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. ClearAlpha Technologies LP now owns 14,013 shares of the company’s stock worth $323,000 after purchasing an additional 590 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 694 shares during the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 8.6% during the third quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 13,357 shares of the company’s stock valued at $308,000 after purchasing an additional 1,063 shares during the period. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 32,191 shares of the company’s stock worth $665,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066 shares during the last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

NYSE:FLO opened at $18.51 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.92. The stock has a market cap of $3.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.41. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a twelve month low of $17.95 and a twelve month high of $26.12.

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

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.05%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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