Flowers Foods, Inc. $FLO Stock Position Lifted by Pacer Advisors Inc.

Key Points

• Pacer Advisors increased its Flowers Foods stake by 24.8% in the first quarter to 1.45 million shares, while institutional investors collectively held 75.45% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment remains cautious: Flowers Foods has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $9.17, with several firms lowering targets to between $7 and $8.
• FLO traded near $7.30, close to its 52-week low, while the company reported quarterly EPS slightly above estimates and paid a $0.125 quarterly dividend, representing a 6.8% yield but a high 142.86% payout ratio.

Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) by 24.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,448,834 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 287,578 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. owned approximately 0.68% of Flowers Foods worth $11,808,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,091,556 shares of the company's stock valued at $229,476,000 after acquiring an additional 736,624 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,997,655 shares of the company's stock worth $119,654,000 after acquiring an additional 276,670 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Flowers Foods by 6.3% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,245,714 shares of the company's stock valued at $163,727,000 after purchasing an additional 602,920 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Flowers Foods by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,968,508 shares of the company's stock valued at $86,697,000 after purchasing an additional 680,412 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Flowers Foods by 14.0% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,545,153 shares of the company's stock valued at $61,497,000 after purchasing an additional 925,245 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.45% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on FLO. BNP Paribas Exane dropped their target price on Flowers Foods from $10.00 to $8.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Stephens reduced their price target on Flowers Foods from $11.00 to $8.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 18th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $7.00 price target on Flowers Foods in a research note on Monday. Wall Street Zen downgraded Flowers Foods from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, May 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Flowers Foods from a "sell (d)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus price target of $9.17.

Flowers Foods Stock Up 1.2%

FLO stock opened at $7.30 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 1 year low of $6.80 and a 1 year high of $16.85. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $7.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $8.75. The firm has a market cap of $1.55 billion, a PE ratio of 20.87 and a beta of 0.40.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.01. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 1.38% and a return on equity of 15.98%. The firm had revenue of $1.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.35 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. Flowers Foods has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.800-0.900 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 0.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th were paid a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 12th. Flowers Foods's dividend payout ratio is 142.86%.

Insider Activity at Flowers Foods

In related news, CFO Diego Anthony Scaglione acquired 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 8th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $7.51 per share, with a total value of $37,550.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer owned 194,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,458,291.80. The trade was a 2.64% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 7.23% of the company's stock.

About Flowers Foods

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

Continue following MarketBeat

Add MarketBeat as your preferred source on Google to see our latest stories in your feed.

Add As Preferred Source