Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) Trading Down 6% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) were down 6% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $6.85 and last traded at $6.8050. Approximately 4,399,444 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 24% from the average daily volume of 5,781,448 shares. The stock had previously closed at $7.24.

More Flowers Foods News

Here are the key news stories impacting Flowers Foods this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Flowers Foods beat Q1 earnings estimates, reporting $0.29 per share versus $0.28 expected, and revenue grew 1.1% year over year. The earnings beat helped offset concerns about slower volume trends. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Management is emphasizing debt reduction and cost control, with leverage targeted below 3x by fiscal 2027. Investors appear encouraged that freeing up cash could support future buybacks or a re-rating of the stock. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: The company also launched a refreshed Nature’s Own brand and a “simpler recipe” marketing push, which could help demand over time but is not yet a near-term financial catalyst. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Q1 profit declined from a year ago and the company cut its dividend by 50%, signaling pressure from higher costs and a shift to preserve cash for balance-sheet repair. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Revenue came in slightly below estimates and volumes were soft, suggesting that pricing and acquisition-related growth are only partially offsetting weakness in the core bread business. Article Title

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on FLO shares. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Flowers Foods from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 3rd. Stephens reduced their price target on shares of Flowers Foods from $11.00 to $8.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 18th. BNP Paribas Exane reduced their price target on shares of Flowers Foods from $10.00 to $8.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of Flowers Foods from $11.00 to $7.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Flowers Foods from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $9.60.

Flowers Foods Trading Up 13.7%

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $8.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.89. The firm has a market cap of $1.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.76 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.54.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 1.38% and a return on equity of 15.75%. The company’s revenue was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.35 earnings per share. Flowers Foods has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.800-0.900 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect 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 paid 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 dividend yield of 6.3%. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is presently 247.50%.

Insider Transactions at Flowers Foods

In other Flowers Foods news, CEO Ryals Mcmullian sold 209,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 813,380 shares in the company, valued at $6,531,441.40. This represents a 20.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 7.23% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Flowers Foods

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 13.5% during the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 4,371,965 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,054,000 after buying an additional 521,670 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,091,556 shares of the company’s stock worth $229,476,000 after buying an additional 736,624 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods during the fourth quarter worth about $1,818,000. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 139.1% during the third quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 4,295,812 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,060,000 after buying an additional 2,499,194 shares during the period. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 55.0% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 445,993 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,820,000 after buying an additional 158,234 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Flowers Foods Company 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.