Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Reduces Stock Holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. $FLO

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership reduced its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 22.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,071,344 shares of the company’s stock after selling 305,545 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned approximately 0.51% of Flowers Foods worth $17,120,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 270.3% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,449,240 shares of the company’s stock worth $141,610,000 after acquiring an additional 5,437,735 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Flowers Foods by 91.6% during the 1st quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 8,392,872 shares of the company’s stock worth $159,548,000 after purchasing an additional 4,011,428 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Flowers Foods during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $37,674,000. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in Flowers Foods by 209.6% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 949,688 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,054,000 after purchasing an additional 642,942 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 8,028.8% in the first quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 489,272 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,301,000 after buying an additional 483,253 shares during the last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FLO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $15.00 price objective on shares of Flowers Foods in a report on Monday, August 18th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Flowers Foods from $15.00 to $10.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Flowers Foods in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $13.67.

Insider Transactions at Flowers Foods

In other news, CEO Ryals Mcmullian sold 350,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.82, for a total transaction of $4,487,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,231,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,786,291.60. This represents a 22.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Cindy Cox sold 3,600 shares of Flowers Foods stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.00, for a total value of $54,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 16,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $254,910. This represents a 17.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 11.57% of the company’s stock.

Flowers Foods Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:FLO opened at $10.77 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 12-month low of $10.34 and a 12-month high of $22.40. The business has a 50 day moving average of $11.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $14.29. The company has a market capitalization of $2.27 billion, a PE ratio of 11.70 and a beta of 0.33.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.23. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 3.78% and a return on equity of 16.35%. The firm had revenue of $1.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.33 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. Flowers Foods has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.020-1.08 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 28th will be issued a $0.2475 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 28th. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.2%. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is presently 107.61%.

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.