Insider Buying: Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Director Acquires 6,000 Shares of Stock

Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Director George E. Deese acquired 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were bought at an average price of $16.84 per share, with a total value of $101,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,004,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,764,031.60. The trade was a 0.30% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Flowers Foods Stock Up 0.1%

Flowers Foods stock traded up $0.01 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $17.02. 1,338,213 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,630,739. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 52 week low of $16.29 and a 52 week high of $23.87. The company has a market capitalization of $3.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.58, a PEG ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.37. The business’s 50 day moving average is $17.86 and its 200 day moving average is $19.36. 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 (NYSE:FLO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 16th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.60 billion. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 4.86% and a return on equity of 19.48%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.38 EPS. Analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowers Foods Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 19th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 5th will be paid a $0.2475 dividend. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 5th. This is a boost from Flowers Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio is currently 91.67%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Flowers Foods

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FLO. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new stake in Flowers Foods in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its holdings in Flowers Foods by 617.3% during the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 1,463 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in Flowers Foods by 2,191.6% in the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,177 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 2,082 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in Flowers Foods by 904.8% during the 1st quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,502 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 2,253 shares during the period. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. DA Davidson reduced their price target on Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Wall Street Zen cut Flowers Foods from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on Flowers Foods from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Flowers Foods from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Flowers Foods currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $19.25.

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.