Comerica Bank Has $1.98 Million Holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. $FLO

Comerica Bank grew its stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 49.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 181,973 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 60,157 shares during the quarter. Comerica Bank’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $1,980,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,091,556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $229,476,000 after purchasing an additional 736,624 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 6.3% in 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 in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 9.6% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,718,821 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,625,000 after purchasing an additional 502,065 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG lifted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 2.5% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 5,440,909 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,004,000 after purchasing an additional 134,056 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 13.5% in the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 4,371,965 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,054,000 after purchasing an additional 521,670 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Flowers Foods

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

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

Shares of Flowers Foods stock opened at $8.63 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $8.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $10.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.56 and a beta of 0.46. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 12 month low of $7.86 and a 12 month high of $17.67. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.06. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 16.61% and a net margin of 1.59%.The business had revenue of $1.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.23 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.22 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. Flowers Foods has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.800-0.900 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 0.86 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 6th were given a $0.2475 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 6th. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.5%. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is 247.50%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Flowers Foods from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday. Weiss Ratings lowered Flowers Foods from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a report on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on Flowers Foods from $11.00 to $7.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 30th. Stephens set a $11.00 target price on Flowers Foods in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, 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 report on Thursday, April 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $11.17.

Flowers Foods 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.