Ieq Capital LLC Purchases New Shares in Flowers Foods, Inc. $FLO

Ieq Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 72,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $570,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of FLO. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Flowers Foods during the 2nd quarter worth $273,587,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 736,624 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,997,655 shares of the company’s stock valued at $119,654,000 after acquiring an additional 276,670 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 6.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,245,714 shares of the company’s stock worth $163,727,000 after purchasing an additional 602,920 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,968,508 shares of the company’s stock worth $86,697,000 after purchasing an additional 680,412 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Flowers Foods news, CFO Diego Anthony Scaglione bought 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 8th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $7.51 per share, for a total transaction of $37,550.00. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer directly owned 194,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,458,291.80. This trade represents a 2.64% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 7.23% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

Shares of FLO stock opened at $7.11 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.57. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $7.73 and a 200-day moving average of $8.27. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a one year low of $6.80 and a one year high of $15.14. The company has a market cap of $1.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.35 and a beta of 0.40.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 20th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by ($0.01). Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 14.91% and a net margin of 1.06%.The firm had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.28 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. Flowers Foods has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.750-0.850 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 0.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be given a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.0%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 192.31%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on FLO. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Flowers Foods from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Stephens lowered their target price on shares of Flowers Foods from $8.00 to $6.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group set a $7.00 target price on shares of Flowers Foods in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Flowers Foods from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 3rd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Flowers Foods from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $7.60.

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.