Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) Shares Down 5.6% – What’s Next?

Shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) traded down 5.6% during mid-day trading on Monday. The stock traded as low as $6.46 and last traded at $6.3340. Approximately 336,097 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 95% from the average daily volume of 6,453,124 shares. The stock had previously closed at $6.71.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FLO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Zacks Research lowered Flowers Foods from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 15th. Stephens lowered their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $6.00 to $5.50 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 2nd. BNP Paribas Exane dropped their target price on shares of Flowers Foods from $6.50 to $5.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Flowers Foods from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Flowers Foods from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $6.70.

Flowers Foods Stock Down 5.3%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.77. The stock has a market cap of $1.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.52 and a beta of 0.38. The business’s 50 day moving average is $6.15 and its 200 day moving average is $7.93.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 20th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.22 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.23 billion. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 1.06% and a return on equity of 14.91%. Flowers Foods’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.28 earnings per share. Flowers Foods has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.750-0.850 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 0.80 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 11th were issued a dividend of $0.1250 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 11th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.9%. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is currently 192.31%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Cindy Cox sold 4,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.89, for a total value of $25,916.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 41,030 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $241,666.70. This represents a 9.69% decrease in their position. The sale 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.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Flowers Foods

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in FLO. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods in the second quarter worth approximately $273,587,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Flowers Foods by 14.0% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,545,153 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,497,000 after buying an additional 925,245 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in shares of Flowers Foods during the 2nd quarter valued at $18,168,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 8.5% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,770,355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,428,000 after acquiring an additional 138,775 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Man Group plc acquired a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the second quarter worth $11,830,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

About Flowers Foods

Flowers Foods, Inc is a producer and marketer of packaged bakery foods in the United States. The company makes and distributes bread, buns, rolls, snack cakes, pastries, and other baked goods through a network of bakeries and distribution operations.

Its portfolio includes well-known brands such as Nature’s Own, Wonder, Dave’s Killer Bread, Tastykake, Canyon Bakehouse, and Mrs. Freshley’s. Flowers Foods sells products through grocery stores, mass merchandisers, club stores, foodservice distributors, convenience stores, and other retail channels.

Founded in 1919 and headquartered in Thomasville, Georgia, Flowers Foods serves customers across the United States.