Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) Lowered to Strong Sell Rating by Zacks Research

Zacks Research lowered shares of Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a research note published on Tuesday,Zacks reports.

Several other analysts have also commented on FLO. Stephens dropped their price objective on Flowers Foods from $8.00 to $6.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 24th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $7.00 price objective on Flowers Foods in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Flowers Foods from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $7.60.

Flowers Foods Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of Flowers Foods stock opened at $6.17 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $7.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $7.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.77. Flowers Foods has a fifty-two week low of $5.92 and a fifty-two week high of $13.79. The company has a market cap of $1.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.72 and a beta of 0.39.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last posted its 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). Flowers Foods had a net margin of 1.06% and a return on equity of 14.91%. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.28 earnings per share. Flowers Foods’s revenue was down 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. Flowers Foods has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.750-0.850 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Flowers Foods will post 0.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 11th will be given a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio is 192.31%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Flowers Foods during the second quarter valued at approximately $273,587,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 14.0% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,545,153 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,497,000 after acquiring an additional 925,245 shares during the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods during the second quarter worth approximately $18,168,000. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods during the fourth quarter worth approximately $21,680,000. 75.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Flowers Foods Company Profile

Flowers Foods, Inc is a U.S.-based producer and distributor of packaged bakery foods. The company makes breads, buns, rolls, snack cakes, tortillas and related baked goods for retail, foodservice and other commercial customers.

Its portfolio includes nationally recognized brands such as Nature’s Own, Dave’s Killer Bread, Wonder, Tastykake, Canyon Bakehouse and Mrs. Freshley’s. Flowers Foods also supplies baked goods through regional and local brands, serving grocery stores, mass merchants, club retailers, restaurants and foodservice distributors.

Founded in 1919 and headquartered in Thomasville, Georgia, Flowers Foods operates bakeries and distribution facilities across the United States.