Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) Sets New 12-Month Low – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) hit a new 52-week low during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $7.86 and last traded at $7.9350, with a volume of 798089 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $8.08.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on FLO shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Flowers Foods from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 4th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Flowers Foods in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research cut shares of Flowers Foods from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Stephens set a $11.00 target price on shares of Flowers Foods in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of Flowers Foods from $11.00 to $7.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $11.80.

Flowers Foods Trading Up 0.1%

The firm has a market capitalization of $1.71 billion, a PE ratio of 20.16 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $10.83.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.06. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 1.59% and a return on equity of 16.61%. The business had revenue of $1.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.23 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.22 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. Flowers Foods has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.800-0.900 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Flowers Foods news, CEO Ryals Mcmullian sold 209,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.03, for a total transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 11.57% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Flowers Foods

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,091,556 shares of the company’s stock worth $229,476,000 after purchasing an additional 736,624 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,997,655 shares of the company’s stock worth $119,654,000 after purchasing an additional 276,670 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 6.3% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,245,714 shares of the company’s stock worth $163,727,000 after purchasing an additional 602,920 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,968,508 shares of the company’s stock worth $86,697,000 after purchasing an additional 680,412 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 15.8% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,619,908 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,025,000 after purchasing an additional 901,087 shares in the last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.