Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Stock Has Consensus Target Price of $7.60 According to Brokerages

Shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” by the seven ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and four have given a hold recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $6.80.

FLO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BNP Paribas Exane cut their price target on shares of Flowers Foods from $6.50 to $5.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Zacks Research lowered shares of Flowers Foods from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 15th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Flowers Foods from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Finally, Stephens dropped their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $8.00 to $6.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 24th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Flowers Foods

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Flowers Foods in the second quarter worth approximately $273,587,000. Gotham Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 859.6% in the 4th quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 4,026,582 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,809,000 after purchasing an additional 3,606,962 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $18,168,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $21,680,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $12,070,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

FLO stock opened at $5.79 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. The company has a market capitalization of $1.23 billion, a PE ratio of 22.29 and a beta of 0.43. Flowers Foods has a 12-month low of $5.40 and a 12-month high of $13.11. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $6.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $7.51.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last posted 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). Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 14.91% and a net margin of 1.06%. The firm had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.28 EPS. Flowers Foods’s revenue was down 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. Flowers Foods has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.750-0.850 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Flowers Foods will post 0.80 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders 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 yield of 8.6%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio is 192.31%.

Flowers Foods Company Profile

Flowers Foods, Inc (NYSE:FLO) is a U.S. food company that produces and markets packaged bakery products. Its portfolio includes breads, buns, rolls, snack cakes, pastries and other baked goods sold through grocery stores, mass retailers, foodservice providers and other retail channels.

The company’s brands include Nature’s Own, Dave’s Killer Bread, Wonder, Canyon Bakehouse, Tastykake and Mrs. Freshley’s. Flowers Foods distributes its products throughout the United States through a combination of direct-store-delivery and warehouse distribution systems.

Flowers Foods traces its history to 1919, when it began as a bakery business in Thomasville, Georgia.