NorthRock Partners LLC Takes $185,000 Position in Flowers Foods, Inc. $FLO

NorthRock Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 11,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $185,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Flowers Foods during the second quarter worth about $702,000. CWM LLC increased its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 339.8% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 25,917 shares of the company’s stock worth $414,000 after acquiring an additional 20,024 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 32.8% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 75,776 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,211,000 after acquiring an additional 18,729 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 36.2% during the second quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 24,493 shares of the company’s stock worth $391,000 after acquiring an additional 6,507 shares during the period. Finally, Brucke Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 5.9% during the second quarter. Brucke Financial Inc. now owns 19,684 shares of the company’s stock worth $315,000 after acquiring an additional 1,104 shares during the period. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Flowers Foods Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of FLO opened at $12.77 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $14.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $15.89. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a twelve month low of $12.42 and a twelve month high of $23.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.28 and a beta of 0.27.

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

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th were given a $0.2475 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.8%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio is currently 95.19%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on FLO shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Flowers Foods in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Flowers Foods from $20.00 to $15.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Finally, DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $15.00 target price on shares of Flowers Foods in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Flowers Foods has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $15.33.

Insider Activity at Flowers Foods

In other news, CEO Ryals Mcmullian sold 350,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.82, for a total value of $4,487,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,231,380 shares in the company, valued at $15,786,291.60. This represents a 22.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Cindy Cox sold 3,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.00, for a total transaction of $54,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 16,994 shares in the company, valued at $254,910. This represents a 17.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 11.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Flowers Foods

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.