Flowers Foods, Inc. $FLO Stock Position Lifted by Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC

Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 32.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 75,776 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,729 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $1,211,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Inspire Investing LLC grew its position in Flowers Foods by 36.2% in the 2nd quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 24,493 shares of the company’s stock valued at $391,000 after buying an additional 6,507 shares in the last quarter. Brucke Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. Brucke Financial Inc. now owns 19,684 shares of the company’s stock worth $315,000 after acquiring an additional 1,104 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 85.0% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 10,786 shares of the company’s stock worth $172,000 after acquiring an additional 4,957 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 860.2% in the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 1,978 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 1,772 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 278.8% during the second quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 2,917 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 2,147 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Flowers Foods in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Flowers Foods from $20.00 to $15.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 18th. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $15.00 target price on shares of Flowers Foods in a report on Monday, August 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Flowers Foods presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $15.33.

Flowers Foods Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of NYSE FLO opened at $12.77 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 12 month low of $12.42 and a 12 month high of $23.09. The company has a market cap of $2.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.28 and a beta of 0.27. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $14.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $15.87.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 15th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.01. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 17.85% and a net margin of 4.30%.The firm had revenue of $1.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.36 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Flowers Foods has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.000-1.10 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 19th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th were given a $0.2475 dividend. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio is 95.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Cindy Cox sold 3,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.00, for a total value of $54,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 16,994 shares in the company, valued at $254,910. This represents a 17.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ryals Mcmullian sold 350,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.82, for a total value of $4,487,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,231,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,786,291.60. This trade represents a 22.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 11.57% of the company’s stock.

Flowers Foods 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.