AXQ Capital LP Buys New Position in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

AXQ Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 15,199 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $314,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FLO. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Flowers Foods during the 4th quarter valued at about $12,058,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Flowers Foods by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,159,076 shares of the company’s stock valued at $95,971,000 after buying an additional 259,216 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. increased its position in Flowers Foods by 423.1% during the 3rd quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 306,848 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,079,000 after buying an additional 248,185 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB acquired a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the fourth quarter valued at about $4,461,000. Finally, Moran Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,940,000. 75.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FLO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Flowers Foods from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com downgraded Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, DA Davidson lowered their target price 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Flowers Foods presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.00.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

Shares of FLO stock opened at $18.21 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.56, a P/E/G ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.41. The business’s 50 day moving average is $19.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 12-month low of $17.99 and a 12-month high of $26.12.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.20 EPS. Analysts expect that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.27%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.