Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) Stock Price Down 4.3% – Should You Sell?

Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)’s stock price was down 4.3% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $6.37 and last traded at $6.3950. 3,550,300 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 44% from the average session volume of 6,311,314 shares. The stock had previously closed at $6.68.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on FLO shares. Stephens reduced their target price on shares of Flowers Foods from $8.00 to $6.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 24th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Flowers Foods from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $7.00 price objective on shares of Flowers Foods in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Zacks Research raised Flowers Foods from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Flowers Foods has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $7.60.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $1.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.52 and a beta of 0.39. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $7.68 and a 200-day moving average of $8.14. 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 20th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.22 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.23 billion. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 14.91% and a net margin of 1.06%.Flowers Foods’s quarterly revenue was down 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.28 earnings per share. Flowers Foods has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.750-0.850 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 0.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be given a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio is presently 192.31%.

Insider Activity

In other Flowers Foods news, CFO Diego Anthony Scaglione acquired 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 8th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $7.51 per share, with a total value of $37,550.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer directly owned 194,180 shares in the company, valued at $1,458,291.80. This represents a 2.64% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 7.23% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Flowers Foods during the 2nd quarter valued at about $273,587,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 3.6% during 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 during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in 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 valued at $119,654,000 after buying an additional 276,670 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Flowers Foods by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,245,714 shares of the company’s stock worth $163,727,000 after buying an additional 602,920 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Flowers Foods by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,968,508 shares of the company’s stock worth $86,697,000 after buying an additional 680,412 shares during the period. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.