Flowers Foods, Inc. $FLO Shares Acquired by Commonwealth Equity Services LLC

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 1,515.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 357,726 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 335,582 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $3,892,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in FLO. WealthCollab LLC lifted 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 worth $25,000 after buying an additional 2,192 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its stake 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 worth $29,000 after buying an additional 1,898 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its stake 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 worth $31,000 after buying an additional 1,663 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake 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 worth $33,000 after buying an additional 1,958 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake 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 worth $33,000 after buying an additional 1,836 shares during the period. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Flowers Foods

In other Flowers Foods news, CEO Ryals Mcmullian sold 209,000 shares of Flowers Foods stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.03, for a total value of $1,678,270.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 813,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,531,441.40. The trade was a 20.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 7.23% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Flowers Foods Trading Up 0.2%

NYSE FLO opened at $7.50 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.59 billion, a PE ratio of 21.41 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a fifty day moving average of $8.10 and a 200 day moving average of $9.57. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 1 year low of $6.80 and a 1 year high of $16.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.57.

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

Flowers Foods Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th will be given a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.7%. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is currently 282.86%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Flowers Foods Profile

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.