Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Receives $9.60 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) has been assigned an average rating of “Reduce” from the seven analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have issued a hold rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $9.60.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Flowers Foods

In related news, CFO Diego Anthony Scaglione purchased 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 8th. The shares were bought at an average price of $7.51 per share, for a total transaction of $37,550.00. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer directly owned 194,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,458,291.80. This represents a 2.64% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 7.23% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Flowers Foods

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. WealthCollab LLC lifted its position in Flowers Foods by 1,623.7% in the 4th quarter. WealthCollab LLC now owns 2,327 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 2,192 shares in the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. grew its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 542.5% in the first quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 3,386 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 2,859 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC grew 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 worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 1,898 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew 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 worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 1,663 shares during the period. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 176.1% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,070 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 1,958 shares during the period. 75.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

NYSE:FLO opened at $7.75 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $7.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $8.93. Flowers Foods has a twelve month low of $6.80 and a twelve month high of $16.85. The stock has a market cap of $1.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.16 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 1.02.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 21st. The company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 15.98% and a net margin of 1.38%.Flowers Foods’s revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.35 earnings per share. Flowers Foods has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.800-0.900 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Flowers Foods will post 0.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 12th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.4%. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is presently 142.86%.

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.