Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. $FLO

Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC increased its position in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 546.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 129,322 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 109,303 shares during the period. Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $1,407,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in Flowers Foods by 13.5% during the 3rd 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 during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 736,624 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new position in Flowers Foods during the 4th quarter valued at $1,818,000. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its position in Flowers Foods by 139.1% during the 3rd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 4,295,812 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,060,000 after purchasing an additional 2,499,194 shares during the period. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Flowers Foods by 55.0% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 445,993 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,820,000 after purchasing an additional 158,234 shares during the period. 75.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on FLO shares. BNP Paribas Exane reduced 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 report on Thursday, April 9th. Stephens reduced 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 report on Monday, May 18th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Flowers Foods from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Flowers Foods from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced 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 report on Monday, March 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $9.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Flowers Foods

In other news, CEO Ryals Mcmullian sold 209,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 813,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,531,441.40. This represents a 20.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 7.23% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Flowers Foods Stock Up 0.3%

NYSE:FLO opened at $7.97 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $8.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.85. The company has a market capitalization of $1.69 billion, a PE ratio of 22.76 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.54. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 1-year low of $6.80 and a 1-year high of $17.24.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 1.38% and a return on equity of 15.75%. The company’s revenue was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.35 EPS. Flowers Foods has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.800-0.900 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 0.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be given a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 12th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.3%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio is currently 282.86%.

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.