Zacks Research Downgrades Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) to Strong Sell

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) was downgraded by analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Zacks reports.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Flowers Foods from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $7.00 price objective on shares of Flowers Foods in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Stephens reduced their target price on shares of Flowers Foods from $8.00 to $6.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $7.60.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

Shares of FLO stock opened at $6.17 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $1.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.72 and a beta of 0.39. The business has a 50 day moving average of $7.27 and a two-hundred day moving average of $7.88. Flowers Foods has a 52 week low of $5.92 and a 52 week high of $13.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 20th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by ($0.01). Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 14.91% and a net margin of 1.06%.The company had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.28 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter 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. As a group, analysts anticipate that Flowers Foods will post 0.8 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Flowers Foods in the 2nd quarter valued at about $273,587,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 14.0% in the 1st 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 period. Gotham Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 valued at $43,809,000 after acquiring an additional 3,606,962 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $21,680,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in shares of Flowers Foods during the second quarter valued at approximately $18,168,000. 75.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.