Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft Cuts Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) Price Target to $7.00

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) had its price target decreased by Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft from $11.00 to $7.00 in a research note published on Monday,Benzinga reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft currently has a hold rating on the stock.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on FLO. Stephens set a $11.00 target price on shares of Flowers Foods in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Zacks Research lowered Flowers Foods from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Wall Street Zen raised Flowers Foods from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Flowers Foods in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $11.80.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

Flowers Foods stock opened at $8.14 on Monday. Flowers Foods has a 52-week low of $7.86 and a 52-week high of $20.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.34 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $11.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.23 billion. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 1.59% and a return on equity of 16.61%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.22 earnings per share. Flowers Foods has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.800-0.900 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Flowers Foods will post 1.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th were paid a dividend of $0.2475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 6th. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 12.2%. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is 247.50%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Flowers Foods news, CEO Ryals Mcmullian sold 209,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.87, for a total value of $2,271,830.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,022,380 shares in the company, valued at $11,113,270.60. The trade was a 16.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 11.57% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Flowers Foods

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FLO. Gotham Asset Management LLC grew its position in Flowers Foods by 859.6% in the fourth quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 4,026,582 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,809,000 after acquiring an additional 3,606,962 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in Flowers Foods by 139.1% during the third quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 4,295,812 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,060,000 after acquiring an additional 2,499,194 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Flowers Foods in the second quarter valued at $37,674,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Flowers Foods by 70.1% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,603,093 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,082,000 after purchasing an additional 1,896,607 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Flowers Foods by 48.1% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,333,854 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,032,000 after purchasing an additional 1,732,003 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

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.