Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Receives Average Rating of “Reduce” from Analysts

Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) has earned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the seven research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a hold rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $9.60.

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on FLO shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of Flowers Foods from $11.00 to $7.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 30th. BNP Paribas Exane lowered their price target on shares of Flowers Foods from $10.00 to $8.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Flowers Foods from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Flowers Foods from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Stephens lowered 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 report on Monday, May 18th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Flowers Foods news, CEO Ryals Mcmullian sold 209,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.03, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 20.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 7.23% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Flowers Foods by 34.9% during the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 3,272 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 846 shares in the last quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 40,293 shares of the company’s stock valued at $526,000 after buying an additional 997 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 64.4% in the 2nd quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,555 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 1,001 shares in the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 18,097 shares of the company’s stock valued at $236,000 after buying an additional 1,038 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 16.0% in the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 7,789 shares of the company’s stock valued at $102,000 after buying an additional 1,074 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

Shares of FLO opened at $7.67 on Tuesday. Flowers Foods has a fifty-two week low of $6.80 and a fifty-two week high of $16.95. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $8.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $9.71. The company has a market cap of $1.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.91 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.01. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 1.38% and a return on equity of 15.98%. The firm had revenue of $1.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.35 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter 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, research analysts forecast that Flowers Foods will post 0.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is 282.86%.

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.