Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) Stock Rating Upgraded by Zacks Research

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) was upgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

FLO has been the subject of several other research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target 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. Wall Street Zen cut Flowers Foods from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 3rd. Stephens decreased their price target on Flowers Foods from $11.00 to $8.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 18th. BNP Paribas Exane decreased their price target on Flowers Foods from $10.00 to $8.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Flowers Foods from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $9.60.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

FLO stock opened at $7.97 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The firm has a market cap of $1.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.76 and a beta of 0.46. Flowers Foods has a 12-month low of $6.80 and a 12-month high of $17.24. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $8.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.89.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 21st. The company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 15.75% and a net margin of 1.38%.The firm’s revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.35 EPS. Flowers Foods has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.800-0.900 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Flowers Foods will post 0.87 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Flowers Foods

In related news, CEO Ryals Mcmullian sold 209,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.03, for a total value of $1,678,270.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 813,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,531,441.40. This represents a 20.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 7.23% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FLO. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,091,556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $229,476,000 after acquiring an additional 736,624 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,997,655 shares of the company’s stock valued at $119,654,000 after acquiring an additional 276,670 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 6.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,245,714 shares of the company’s stock valued at $163,727,000 after acquiring an additional 602,920 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,968,508 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,697,000 after acquiring an additional 680,412 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 14.0% during 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 last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Flowers Foods News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Flowers Foods this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Flowers Foods beat Q1 earnings estimates, reporting $0.29 per share versus $0.28 expected, and revenue grew 1.1% year over year. The earnings beat helped offset concerns about slower volume trends. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Management is emphasizing debt reduction and cost control, with leverage targeted below 3x by fiscal 2027. Investors appear encouraged that freeing up cash could support future buybacks or a re-rating of the stock. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: The company also launched a refreshed Nature’s Own brand and a “simpler recipe” marketing push, which could help demand over time but is not yet a near-term financial catalyst. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Q1 profit declined from a year ago and the company cut its dividend by 50%, signaling pressure from higher costs and a shift to preserve cash for balance-sheet repair. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Revenue came in slightly below estimates and volumes were soft, suggesting that pricing and acquisition-related growth are only partially offsetting weakness in the core bread business. Article Title

Flowers Foods Company Profile

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.