Amundi Makes New Investment in Flowers Foods, Inc. $FLO

Amundi acquired a new position in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 85,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,646,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Flowers Foods during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 617.3% during the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 1,463 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 2,191.6% during the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,177 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 2,082 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 904.8% during the 1st quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,502 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 2,253 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 63.1% during the 1st quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 3,739 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,000 after buying an additional 1,446 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on FLO. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Flowers Foods from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Flowers Foods from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $15.00 price objective on shares of Flowers Foods in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Flowers Foods from $20.00 to $15.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $15.33.

Flowers Foods Stock Down 3.6%

Shares of FLO opened at $13.76 on Friday. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 52-week low of $13.75 and a 52-week high of $23.87. The company has a market capitalization of $2.91 billion, a PE ratio of 13.23 and a beta of 0.29. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $15.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last issued its earnings results on Friday, August 15th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.01. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 17.85% and a net margin of 4.30%.The business had revenue of $1.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.27 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.36 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. Flowers Foods has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.000-1.10 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be paid a $0.2475 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.2%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 95.19%.

Insider Activity

In other Flowers Foods news, insider Cindy Cox sold 3,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.00, for a total value of $54,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 16,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $254,910. This trade represents a 17.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 11.57% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Flowers Foods Company 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.