100,031 Shares in Flowers Foods, Inc. $FLO Acquired by The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 100,031 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $790,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the second quarter worth about $102,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Flowers Foods during the 2nd quarter valued at about $8,360,000. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in Flowers Foods during the 2nd quarter valued at about $640,000. Evolve Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Flowers Foods in the 2nd quarter valued at about $88,000. Finally, Farringdon Capital Ltd. purchased a new stake in Flowers Foods in the 2nd quarter valued at about $97,000. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Flowers Foods

In related news, CFO Diego Scaglione purchased 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 8th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $7.51 per share, for a total transaction of $37,550.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer owned 194,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,458,291.80. The trade was a 2.64% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 7.23% of the company’s stock.

Flowers Foods Trading Down 2.3%

NYSE FLO opened at $6.30 on Friday. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a one year low of $6.27 and a one year high of $15.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.77. The company has a market capitalization of $1.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.23 and a beta of 0.39. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $7.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $8.10.

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

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be given a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 192.31%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on FLO. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Flowers Foods from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Stephens reduced their price objective on Flowers Foods from $8.00 to $6.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 24th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $7.00 target price on Flowers Foods in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Flowers Foods from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $7.60.

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.