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

Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) has earned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the seven brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two equities research 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 covered the stock in the last year is $9.60.

Several research analysts recently commented on FLO shares. Stephens reduced their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $11.00 to $8.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 18th. BNP Paribas Exane reduced their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $10.00 to $8.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Flowers Foods from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 3rd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Flowers Foods from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Flowers Foods from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th.

Flowers Foods Trading Up 0.2%

NYSE FLO opened at $7.50 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a market cap of $1.59 billion, a PE ratio of 21.41 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $8.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.57. Flowers Foods has a 52 week low of $6.80 and a 52 week high of $16.95.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last posted 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 firm had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 1.38% and a return on equity of 15.98%. Flowers Foods’s revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.35 EPS. Flowers Foods has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.800-0.900 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Flowers Foods will post 0.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is 282.86%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Flowers Foods news, CEO Ryals Mcmullian sold 209,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.03, for a total transaction of $1,678,270.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 813,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,531,441.40. The trade was a 20.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 7.23% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Flowers Foods

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of FLO. WealthCollab LLC grew its position in 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 last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. grew its position in Flowers Foods by 542.5% during the 1st 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 grew its position in Flowers Foods by 262.9% during 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 last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its position in Flowers Foods by 225.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 2,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 1,663 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in Flowers Foods by 176.1% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,070 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 1,958 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Flowers Foods Company Profile

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.