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

Shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) have received a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the seven research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and five have issued a hold recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $9.60.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on FLO shares. Zacks Research raised Flowers Foods from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Wall Street Zen downgraded Flowers Foods from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 3rd. BNP Paribas Exane dropped their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $10.00 to $8.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Flowers Foods from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of Flowers Foods from $11.00 to $7.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 30th.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

Shares of FLO stock opened at $7.75 on Wednesday. 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’s fifty day moving average is $7.88 and its 200 day moving average is $8.92. The stock has a market cap of $1.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.16 and a beta of 0.39. Flowers Foods has a twelve month low of $6.80 and a twelve month high of $16.85.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.01. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 1.38% and a return on equity of 15.98%. The company had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.35 EPS. Flowers Foods’s 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. Research analysts expect that Flowers Foods will post 0.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Cuts Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Diego Anthony Scaglione bought 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 8th. The shares were purchased 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 owned 194,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,458,291.80. This represents a 2.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 7.23% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Flowers Foods

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FLO. WealthCollab LLC boosted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 1,623.7% during the 4th quarter. WealthCollab LLC now owns 2,327 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 2,192 shares during the period. Optiver Holding B.V. lifted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 542.5% during the first quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 3,386 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 2,859 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its position in Flowers Foods by 262.9% in the 4th quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 2,620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 1,898 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,663 shares during the period. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 176.1% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,070 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 1,958 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

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.