Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) Reaches New 1-Year Low – What’s Next?

Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) shares hit a new 52-week low on Monday . The stock traded as low as $5.86 and last traded at $5.9150, with a volume of 13240217 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $5.94.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research lowered shares of Flowers Foods from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 15th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Flowers Foods from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $7.00 price objective on Flowers Foods in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Stephens reduced their price objective on Flowers Foods from $8.00 to $6.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $7.60.

Flowers Foods Stock Down 0.6%

The company has a market cap of $1.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.67 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. The company has a fifty day moving average of $7.18 and a 200 day moving average of $7.82.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 20th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.23 billion. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 1.06% and a return on equity of 14.91%. The firm’s revenue was down 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.28 EPS. Flowers Foods has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.750-0.850 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 0.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio is currently 192.31%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FLO. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Flowers Foods in the 2nd quarter worth $273,587,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 14.0% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,545,153 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,497,000 after buying an additional 925,245 shares during the period. Gotham Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 859.6% in the fourth quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 4,026,582 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,809,000 after buying an additional 3,606,962 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Flowers Foods during the 4th quarter valued at about $21,680,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in shares of Flowers Foods during the 2nd quarter valued at about $18,168,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

About Flowers Foods

Flowers Foods, Inc is a U.S.-based producer and distributor of packaged bakery foods. The company makes breads, buns, rolls, snack cakes, tortillas and related baked goods for retail, foodservice and other commercial customers.

Its portfolio includes nationally recognized brands such as Nature’s Own, Dave’s Killer Bread, Wonder, Tastykake, Canyon Bakehouse and Mrs. Freshley’s. Flowers Foods also supplies baked goods through regional and local brands, serving grocery stores, mass merchants, club retailers, restaurants and foodservice distributors.

Founded in 1919 and headquartered in Thomasville, Georgia, Flowers Foods operates bakeries and distribution facilities across the United States.