Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) Shares Up 5.9% – Here’s Why

Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) shares traded up 5.9% during trading on Thursday. The stock traded as high as $6.17 and last traded at $6.1540. 1,061,759 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 6,489,950 shares. The stock had previously closed at $5.81.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FLO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Flowers Foods from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 16th. Zacks Research cut shares of Flowers Foods from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 15th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. BNP Paribas Exane decreased their price objective on Flowers Foods from $6.50 to $5.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. Finally, Stephens decreased their price objective on Flowers Foods from $8.00 to $6.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Flowers Foods has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $6.80.

Flowers Foods Trading Down 4.2%

The company has a market cap of $1.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.65 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $6.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $7.36.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 20th. The company reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $1.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.28 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue 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. Analysts forecast that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 0.80 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 11th were given a dividend of $0.1250 per share. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 11th. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio is 192.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Flowers Foods news, insider Cindy Cox sold 4,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.89, for a total value of $25,916.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 41,030 shares in the company, valued at $241,666.70. This trade represents a 9.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 7.23% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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

About Flowers Foods

Flowers Foods, Inc is a producer and marketer of packaged bakery foods in the United States. The company makes and distributes bread, buns, rolls, snack cakes, pastries, and other baked goods through a network of bakeries and distribution operations.

Its portfolio includes well-known brands such as Nature’s Own, Wonder, Dave’s Killer Bread, Tastykake, Canyon Bakehouse, and Mrs. Freshley’s. Flowers Foods sells products through grocery stores, mass merchandisers, club stores, foodservice distributors, convenience stores, and other retail channels.

Founded in 1919 and headquartered in Thomasville, Georgia, Flowers Foods serves customers across the United States.