Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Stock Position Lowered by UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp

Key Points

• UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp significantly reduced its stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. by 78.3%, now owning 11,527 shares valued at approximately $219,000.
• Flowers Foods' quarterly earnings report showed an EPS of $0.35, missing estimates by $0.03, with revenue declining 1.4% year-over-year to $1.55 billion.
• The company recently declared a dividend increase to $0.2475 per share, yielding 6.3%, up from the previous $0.24 rate, resulting in a payout ratio of 91.67%.

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp lowered its position in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) by 78.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,527 shares of the company's stock after selling 41,651 shares during the quarter. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp's holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $219,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in FLO. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 66.6% during the first quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 16,877 shares of the company's stock valued at $321,000 after acquiring an additional 6,747 shares during the last quarter. Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 0.7% during the first quarter. Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC now owns 162,701 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,093,000 after acquiring an additional 1,109 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods during the first quarter valued at $427,000. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in Flowers Foods by 125.6% in the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 35,717 shares of the company's stock worth $679,000 after buying an additional 19,882 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Flowers Foods in the 1st quarter worth about $252,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.45% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Flowers Foods news, Director William Jameson Mcfadden acquired 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $16.92 per share, for a total transaction of $50,760.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 532,476 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,009,493.92. This trade represents a 0.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director George E. Deese bought 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $16.84 per share, with a total value of $101,040.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,004,990 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,764,031.60. This represents a 0.30% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired 12,000 shares of company stock worth $202,440 in the last three months. 11.57% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on FLO shares. Wall Street Zen lowered Flowers Foods from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Flowers Foods from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 16th.

Flowers Foods Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of Flowers Foods stock traded down $0.02 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $15.83. The stock had a trading volume of 1,903,323 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,456,093. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $16.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.66 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 1 year low of $15.27 and a 1 year high of $23.87.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 16th. The company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.38 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.60 billion. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 18.91% and a net margin of 4.49%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.38 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowers Foods Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 19th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 5th were issued a dividend of $0.2475 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.3%. This is a boost from Flowers Foods's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Flowers Foods's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 91.67%.

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.