AQR Capital Management LLC Trims Position in Flowers Foods, Inc. $FLO

Key Points

• AQR Capital Management LLC has decreased its stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. by 5.0%, reducing its ownership to 932,576 shares valued at approximately $17.7 million.
• Various institutional investors, including Charles Schwab Investment Management, significantly increased their positions in Flowers Foods, indicating ongoing interest in the company.
• Recent analyst ratings show a trend towards "hold" ratings for Flowers Foods, with target prices set between $15.00 and $16.00, reflecting caution in the market's outlook.

AQR Capital Management LLC lessened its holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) by 5.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 932,576 shares of the company's stock after selling 49,191 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC owned 0.44% of Flowers Foods worth $17,728,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods during the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,265,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 163.3% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 266,153 shares of the company's stock worth $5,041,000 after acquiring an additional 165,085 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 450,199 shares of the company's stock worth $8,558,000 after acquiring an additional 1,841 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 270.3% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,449,240 shares of the company's stock worth $141,610,000 after acquiring an additional 5,437,735 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 13.2% during the 1st quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 173,563 shares of the company's stock worth $3,299,000 after acquiring an additional 20,266 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.45% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Flowers Foods

In other Flowers Foods 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 transaction of $54,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 16,994 shares of the company's stock, valued at $254,910. This represents a 17.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 11.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FLO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered Flowers Foods from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. DA Davidson reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $15.00 price target on shares of Flowers Foods in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price target on Flowers Foods from $20.00 to $15.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $15.33.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

FLO stock traded down $0.28 on Monday, reaching $13.47. The company had a trading volume of 6,730,242 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,518,695. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 1 year low of $13.45 and a 1 year high of $23.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.26. The company's fifty day moving average is $15.54 and its 200 day moving average is $16.82. The company has a market cap of $2.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.96 and a beta of 0.29.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 15th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $1.27 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.36 EPS. Flowers Foods's revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. Flowers Foods has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.000-1.10 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.2475 per share. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. Flowers Foods's dividend payout ratio is currently 95.19%.

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.