Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Trims Position in Flowers Foods, Inc. $FLO

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 86.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,095 shares of the company’s stock after selling 76,833 shares during the quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $99,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake 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 worth $229,476,000 after purchasing an additional 736,624 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,997,655 shares of the company’s stock worth $119,654,000 after purchasing an additional 276,670 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 6.3% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,245,714 shares of the company’s stock valued at $163,727,000 after purchasing an additional 602,920 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew 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 valued at $86,697,000 after purchasing an additional 680,412 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Flowers Foods by 15.8% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,619,908 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,025,000 after purchasing an additional 901,087 shares during the last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

FLO stock opened at $7.75 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $7.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $8.93. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 12-month low of $6.80 and a 12-month high of $16.85. 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 company has a market cap of $1.64 billion, a PE ratio of 22.16 and a beta of 0.39.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 21st. The company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 15.98% and a net margin of 1.38%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.35 EPS. Flowers Foods has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.800-0.900 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 0.85 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th were given a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 12th. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is 142.86%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on FLO shares. Stephens decreased their price target on Flowers Foods from $11.00 to $8.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Flowers Foods from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. BNP Paribas Exane cut their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $10.00 to $8.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Zacks Research raised shares of Flowers Foods from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of Flowers Foods from $11.00 to $7.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Flowers Foods currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $9.60.

Insider Transactions at Flowers Foods

In other Flowers Foods news, CFO Diego Anthony Scaglione acquired 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 8th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $7.51 per share, for a total transaction of $37,550.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer directly owned 194,180 shares in the company, valued at $1,458,291.80. This represents a 2.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 7.23% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Flowers Foods

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.