Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Buys 335,582 Shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. $FLO

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 1,515.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 357,726 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 335,582 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC owned 0.17% of Flowers Foods worth $3,892,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in FLO. WealthCollab LLC grew its stake in Flowers Foods by 1,623.7% in the 4th quarter. WealthCollab LLC now owns 2,327 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 2,192 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC grew its stake in Flowers Foods by 262.9% in the 4th quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 2,620 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 1,898 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 225.6% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 2,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 1,663 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 176.1% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,070 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 1,958 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 151.2% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,050 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 1,836 shares in the last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

Shares of FLO opened at $7.50 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $8.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $9.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a twelve month low of $6.80 and a twelve month high of $16.95. The company has a market cap of $1.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.41 and a beta of 0.40.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $1.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.35 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. Flowers Foods has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.800-0.900 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 0.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be issued a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 12th. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is currently 282.86%.

Insider Transactions at Flowers Foods

In other Flowers Foods news, CEO Ryals Mcmullian sold 209,000 shares of Flowers Foods stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.03, for a total value of $1,678,270.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 813,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,531,441.40. The trade was a 20.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 7.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FLO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Stephens dropped their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $11.00 to $8.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 18th. BNP Paribas Exane dropped their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $10.00 to $8.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Flowers Foods from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $11.00 to $7.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Flowers Foods from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $9.60.

Flowers Foods Company Profile

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.