Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) Stock Price Down 5.6% – Here’s Why

Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)’s share price fell 5.6% during mid-day trading on Monday. The company traded as low as $6.46 and last traded at $6.3340. Approximately 336,097 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 95% from the average session volume of 6,453,124 shares. The stock had previously closed at $6.71.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on FLO. Zacks Research raised Flowers Foods from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. BNP Paribas Exane reduced their price objective 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. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target 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. Stephens dropped their price objective on Flowers Foods from $6.00 to $5.50 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 2nd. Finally, 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. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $6.70.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $1.36 billion, a PE ratio of 24.67 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.77. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $6.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $7.89.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 20th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by ($0.01). Flowers Foods had a net margin of 1.06% and a return on equity of 14.91%. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.28 earnings per share. Flowers Foods’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Flowers Foods has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.750-0.850 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 0.80 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 11th were issued a $0.1250 dividend. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 11th. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 192.31%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Cindy Cox sold 4,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.89, for a total transaction of $25,916.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 41,030 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $241,666.70. The trade was a 9.69% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 7.23% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Flowers Foods during the second quarter valued at about $273,587,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Flowers Foods by 14.0% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,545,153 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,497,000 after purchasing an additional 925,245 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in Flowers Foods during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $18,168,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 8.5% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,770,355 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,428,000 after purchasing an additional 138,775 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Man Group plc purchased a new position in Flowers Foods in the 2nd quarter valued at about $11,830,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

About Flowers Foods

Flowers Foods, Inc. is a U.S. bakery company that produces and markets packaged breads, buns, rolls, snack cakes and other baked goods. Its products are sold under brands including Nature’s Own, Dave’s Killer Bread, Wonder, Tastykake, Canyon Bakehouse and Mrs. Freshley’s. Founded in 1919 in Thomasville, Georgia, the company has grown from a local bakery into a national producer of baked goods. Flowers Foods serves consumers across the United States through grocery stores and other retail channels, using a mix of direct-store delivery and warehouse distribution.