Flowers Foods, Inc. $FLO Shares Sold by Vestcor Inc

Vestcor Inc trimmed its stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 29.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 223,500 shares of the company’s stock after selling 91,766 shares during the quarter. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $2,432,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in Flowers Foods by 13.5% during the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 4,371,965 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,054,000 after buying an additional 521,670 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Flowers Foods by 3.6% in 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 in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 139.1% in the third quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 4,295,812 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,060,000 after buying an additional 2,499,194 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,818,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 158,234 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Flowers Foods

In other news, CEO Ryals Mcmullian sold 209,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.03, for a total transaction of $1,678,270.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 813,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,531,441.40. This trade represents a 20.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 7.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on FLO shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on Flowers Foods from $11.00 to $7.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 30th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Flowers Foods from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 3rd. Stephens decreased their target price on shares of Flowers Foods from $11.00 to $8.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Flowers Foods from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane dropped their price target 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. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Flowers Foods currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $9.60.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

Flowers Foods stock opened at $7.50 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $1.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.43 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $8.11 and a 200-day moving average of $9.60. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 52 week low of $6.80 and a 52 week high of $16.95.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 1.38% and a return on equity of 15.98%. The business’s revenue was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.35 earnings per share. Flowers Foods has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.800-0.900 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 0.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be paid a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio is 282.86%.

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.