Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Increases Stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. $FLO

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 7.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 234,725 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 16,805 shares during the quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $3,751,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in FLO. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 617.3% in the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 1,463 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 2,191.6% in the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,177 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 2,082 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 904.8% in the first quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,502 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 2,253 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 63.1% in the first quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 3,739 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,000 after buying an additional 1,446 shares in the last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Flowers Foods

In related news, insider Cindy Cox sold 3,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.00, for a total transaction of $54,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 16,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $254,910. This represents a 17.48% 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 11.57% of the company’s stock.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

NYSE FLO opened at $13.76 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $15.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $16.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.23 and a beta of 0.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.26. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $13.75 and a fifty-two week high of $23.87.

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

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 19th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.2475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.2%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio is presently 95.19%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on FLO shares. Wall Street Zen cut Flowers Foods from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Flowers Foods from $20.00 to $15.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $15.00 price target on shares of Flowers Foods in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, Flowers Foods currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $15.33.

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.