D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Purchases 148,565 Shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. grew its position in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 205.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 220,732 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 148,565 shares during the quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned 0.10% of Flowers Foods worth $4,560,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 13,433 shares of the company’s stock valued at $278,000 after purchasing an additional 1,101 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 27.0% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 228,913 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,729,000 after purchasing an additional 48,686 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 217,032 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,484,000 after purchasing an additional 1,238 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC increased its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 267,232 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,521,000 after purchasing an additional 11,995 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 41,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $851,000 after purchasing an additional 1,165 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on FLO shares. DA Davidson cut their target price on Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Flowers Foods from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Flowers Foods from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $19.25.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

FLO opened at $17.29 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $18.10 and a 200 day moving average of $19.62. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 52-week low of $16.43 and a 52-week high of $24.81. 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 stock has a market cap of $3.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.77, a PEG ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.37.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last issued its earnings results on Friday, May 16th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.03). Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 4.86%. The firm had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.60 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.38 earnings per share. Flowers Foods’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 EPS for the current year.

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.