D.A. Davidson & CO. Makes New $785,000 Investment in Flowers Foods, Inc. $FLO

D.A. Davidson & CO. bought a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 96,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $785,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. WealthCollab LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its holdings in Flowers Foods by 225.6% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 2,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 1,663 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Flowers Foods by 176.1% in the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,070 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 1,958 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in Flowers Foods by 151.2% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,050 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 1,836 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc boosted its position in Flowers Foods by 140.7% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 3,025 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 1,768 shares during the last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

Shares of FLO opened at $7.77 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $7.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $8.93. The stock has a market cap of $1.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.21 and a beta of 0.39. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 52 week low of $6.80 and a 52 week high of $16.85.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 21st. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.01. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 15.98% and a net margin of 1.38%.The firm had revenue of $1.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.35 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. Flowers Foods has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.800-0.900 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 0.85 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Cuts Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

FLO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Zacks Research upgraded Flowers Foods from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Flowers Foods from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $11.00 to $7.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 30th. BNP Paribas Exane cut their target price on shares of Flowers Foods from $10.00 to $8.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Flowers Foods from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, May 3rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $9.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Diego Anthony Scaglione purchased 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 8th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $7.51 per share, with a total value of $37,550.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer directly owned 194,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,458,291.80. This trade represents a 2.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 7.23% of the company’s stock.

Flowers Foods Profile

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.