Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Saturday morning.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Zacks Research lowered Flowers Foods from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on Flowers Foods from $11.00 to $7.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Flowers Foods in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Stephens set a $11.00 target price on Flowers Foods in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $11.80.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

Shares of FLO stock opened at $8.26 on Friday. Flowers Foods has a fifty-two week low of $7.86 and a fifty-two week high of $18.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.64 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.75. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $9.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $10.88.

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

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 was Friday, March 6th. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 12.0%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 247.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Flowers Foods

In other Flowers Foods news, CEO Ryals Mcmullian sold 209,000 shares of Flowers Foods stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.03, for a total transaction of $1,678,270.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 813,380 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,531,441.40. This trade represents a 20.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 11.57% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Flowers Foods

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 129.2% during the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 3,457 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 1,949 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors purchased a new position in shares of Flowers Foods during the 4th quarter valued at about $726,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 1,060.5% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 171,921 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,871,000 after buying an additional 157,106 shares during the last quarter. Alpine Global Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Flowers Foods during the 4th quarter valued at about $180,000. Finally, DGS Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Flowers Foods during the 4th quarter valued at about $144,000. 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.