Vestcor Inc Cuts Stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. $FLO

Vestcor Inc reduced its position in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 29.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 223,500 shares of the company’s stock after selling 91,766 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc owned approximately 0.11% of Flowers Foods worth $2,432,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FLO. WealthCollab LLC raised its position in Flowers Foods by 1,623.7% in the fourth quarter. WealthCollab LLC now owns 2,327 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 2,192 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its holdings in Flowers Foods by 262.9% during the fourth quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 2,620 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 1,898 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its holdings in Flowers Foods by 225.6% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 2,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 1,663 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in Flowers Foods by 176.1% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,070 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 1,958 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp increased its holdings in Flowers Foods by 151.2% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,050 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 1,836 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FLO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Stephens reduced their price target on shares of Flowers Foods from $11.00 to $8.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 18th. BNP Paribas Exane reduced their price objective on Flowers Foods from $10.00 to $8.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Flowers Foods from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on Flowers Foods from $11.00 to $7.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 30th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Flowers Foods from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $9.60.

Flowers Foods Trading Up 0.3%

Flowers Foods stock opened at $7.50 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $8.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.60. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 52 week low of $6.80 and a 52 week high of $16.95. The stock has a market cap of $1.59 billion, a PE ratio of 21.43 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 1.38% and a return on equity of 15.98%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.35 EPS. Flowers Foods has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.800-0.900 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 0.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th will be given a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.7%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 282.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Flowers Foods news, CEO Ryals Mcmullian sold 209,000 shares of Flowers Foods stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.03, for a total value of $1,678,270.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 813,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,531,441.40. The trade was a 20.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 7.23% of the company’s stock.

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.