Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Stock Rated “Reduce” by Wall Street Brokerages

Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) has earned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the seven brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and four have given a hold recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $6.70.

A number of brokerages recently commented on FLO. BNP Paribas Exane dropped their price target on Flowers Foods from $6.50 to $5.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 7th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Flowers Foods from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 16th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Flowers Foods from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 15th. Stephens dropped their target price on shares of Flowers Foods from $6.00 to $5.50 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Flowers Foods from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Flowers Foods news, insider Cindy Cox sold 4,400 shares of Flowers Foods stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.89, for a total transaction of $25,916.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 41,030 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $241,666.70. The trade was a 9.69% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 7.23% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its position in Flowers Foods by 53.4% during the 3rd quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 47,253 shares of the company’s stock valued at $262,000 after purchasing an additional 16,453 shares during the last quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Flowers Foods in the third quarter worth about $54,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its holdings in Flowers Foods by 11.7% in the third quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 121,478 shares of the company’s stock worth $674,000 after buying an additional 12,768 shares during the last quarter. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP raised its holdings in Flowers Foods by 4,442.4% in the third quarter. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP now owns 22,258 shares of the company’s stock worth $126,000 after buying an additional 21,768 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Paragon Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the third quarter worth approximately $86,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Flowers Foods Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of FLO opened at $7.09 on Friday. 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 firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $6.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $7.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.47 and a beta of 0.38. Flowers Foods has a twelve month low of $5.40 and a twelve month high of $12.20.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 20th. The company reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $1.19 billion for 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $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 will post 0.80 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 11th were issued a $0.1250 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 11th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.1%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 192.31%.

Flowers Foods Company Profile

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.