Vanguard Group Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. $FLO

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. by 4.8%, selling 1,093,769 shares and retaining approximately 10.25% ownership, valued at $411.5 million.
• Flowers Foods recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.2475 per share, yielding an annualized 6.3% with a dividend payout ratio of 91.67%.
• Despite reporting earnings per share of $0.30, which exceeded estimates, Flowers Foods saw its stock price decrease by 5.2% amid analyst downgrades and negative market sentiment.

Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) by 4.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 21,644,212 shares of the company's stock after selling 1,093,769 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 10.25% of Flowers Foods worth $411,456,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Flowers Foods by 22.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,742,145 shares of the company's stock worth $35,993,000 after acquiring an additional 314,670 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in 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. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new position in Flowers Foods in the fourth quarter valued at $997,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Flowers Foods by 0.4% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 450,199 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,558,000 after purchasing an additional 1,841 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. increased its stake in Flowers Foods by 13.2% in the first quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 173,563 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,299,000 after purchasing an additional 20,266 shares during the period. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on FLO shares. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $20.00 to $15.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 16th. DA Davidson restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $15.00 price objective on shares of Flowers Foods in a research note on Monday. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Flowers Foods from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $15.33.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director William Jameson Mcfadden acquired 3,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $16.92 per share, with a total value of $50,760.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 532,476 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,009,493.92. This represents a 0.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas Caldecot Chubb III acquired 3,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $16.88 per share, for a total transaction of $50,640.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 45,861 shares of the company's stock, valued at $774,133.68. This represents a 7.00% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 12,000 shares of company stock valued at $202,440 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 11.57% of the company's stock.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:FLO traded up $0.0060 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $15.7260. The stock had a trading volume of 2,696,912 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,650,503. The company has a market capitalization of $3.32 billion, a PE ratio of 15.12 and a beta of 0.32. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $16.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $17.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23. 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 issued its earnings results on Friday, August 15th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.27 billion. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 4.30% and a return on equity of 17.85%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.36 earnings per share. Flowers Foods has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.000-1.10 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 19th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 5th were issued a $0.2475 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 5th. This is a positive change from Flowers Foods's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.3%. Flowers Foods's payout ratio is presently 95.19%.

Flowers Foods Company 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.