Norges Bank Takes $21.68 Million Position in Flowers Foods, Inc. $FLO

Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 1,992,629 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,680,000. Norges Bank owned 0.94% of Flowers Foods as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. WealthCollab LLC increased its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 1,623.7% during the fourth quarter. WealthCollab LLC now owns 2,327 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 2,192 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 262.9% during the fourth quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 2,620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 1,898 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 225.6% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 2,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 1,663 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 176.1% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,070 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 1,958 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 151.2% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,050 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 1,836 shares in the last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on FLO shares. Stephens dropped their price target on Flowers Foods from $11.00 to $8.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on Flowers Foods from $11.00 to $7.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 30th. Zacks Research upgraded Flowers Foods from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Wall Street Zen lowered Flowers Foods from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Flowers Foods from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $9.60.

Flowers Foods Trading Up 2.0%

Flowers Foods stock opened at $7.64 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $8.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $9.55. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 12 month low of $6.80 and a 12 month high of $16.95. The company has a market capitalization of $1.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.83 and a beta of 0.40.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 15.98% and a net margin of 1.38%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.35 earnings per share. Flowers Foods has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.800-0.900 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 0.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 12th. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio is presently 282.86%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ryals Mcmullian sold 209,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.03, for a total transaction of $1,678,270.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 813,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,531,441.40. This represents a 20.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 7.23% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Flowers Foods

Flowers Foods, Inc is one of the largest producers of packaged bakery foods in the United States, offering a variety of fresh bread, buns, rolls, snack cakes and tortillas. Headquartered in Thomasville, Georgia, the company operates an extensive network of bakeries and distribution centers that serve retail grocery chains, convenience stores, mass merchandisers and foodservice customers nationwide. Flowers Foods markets its products under well-known brands such as Nature’s Own, Wonder, Dave’s Killer Bread, Mrs.