Ceredex Value Advisors LLC Has $10.87 Million Holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. $FLO

Key Points

• Ceredex Value Advisors LLC increased its stake in Flowers Foods by 13.5% in Q1, owning approximately 571,804 shares valued at $10.87 million.
• Flowers Foods plans to pay a quarterly dividend of $0.2475 per share on September 19th, which translates to an annualized yield of 6.7%.
• Despite a slight decrease in stock value by 2.8%, Flowers Foods reported a quarterly earnings per share of $0.30, slightly beating analyst expectations.

Ceredex Value Advisors LLC lifted its position in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) by 13.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 571,804 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 67,950 shares during the quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC owned about 0.27% of Flowers Foods worth $10,870,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Comerica Bank grew its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 23.0% in the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 97,463 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,853,000 after buying an additional 18,208 shares in the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 7.4% in the first quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 21,711 shares of the company's stock valued at $413,000 after buying an additional 1,500 shares in the last quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC bought a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the first quarter valued at $2,265,000. AlphaQuest LLC grew its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 5,973.2% in the first quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 17,430 shares of the company's stock valued at $331,000 after buying an additional 17,143 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Fund Management S.A. bought a new position in Flowers Foods during the first quarter worth $938,000. 75.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

Shares of FLO traded up $0.14 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $15.05. 2,272,116 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,967,887. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a twelve month low of $14.74 and a twelve month high of $23.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23. The company has a market cap of $3.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.47 and a beta of 0.32. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $15.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.17.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 15th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $1.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.27 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.36 earnings per share. The company'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, sell-side analysts expect that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.2475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.6%. Flowers Foods's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 95.19%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $20.00 to $15.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Flowers Foods from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $15.00 price objective on shares of Flowers Foods in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $15.33.

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.