Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Shares Sold by UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp lessened its stake in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 78.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,527 shares of the company’s stock after selling 41,651 shares during the period. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $219,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of FLO. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its stake in Flowers Foods by 66.6% during the 1st quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 16,877 shares of the company’s stock valued at $321,000 after purchasing an additional 6,747 shares during the last quarter. Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 0.7% during the first quarter. Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC now owns 162,701 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,093,000 after purchasing an additional 1,109 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods during the first quarter worth about $427,000. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in Flowers Foods by 125.6% in the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 35,717 shares of the company’s stock valued at $679,000 after buying an additional 19,882 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Flowers Foods in the first quarter valued at approximately $252,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on FLO. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Flowers Foods from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Flowers Foods from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 19th.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

Shares of FLO stock opened at $15.83 on Friday. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 52-week low of $15.27 and a 52-week high of $23.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market cap of $3.34 billion, a PE ratio of 14.66 and a beta of 0.32. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $16.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $17.68.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 16th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.03). Flowers Foods had a net margin of 4.49% and a return on equity of 18.91%. The company had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.60 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.38 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 19th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 5th were issued a dividend of $0.2475 per share. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.3%. This is a boost from Flowers Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 5th. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is currently 91.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director George E. Deese bought 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $16.84 per share, with a total value of $101,040.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 2,004,990 shares in the company, valued at $33,764,031.60. The trade was a 0.30% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas Caldecot Chubb III bought 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $16.88 per share, for a total transaction of $50,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 45,861 shares in the company, valued at approximately $774,133.68. This trade represents a 7.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have bought 12,000 shares of company stock valued at $202,440. Corporate insiders own 11.57% of the company’s stock.

Flowers Foods 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.