Key Points
- Insider sale: Flowers Foods insider Cindy Cox sold 4,400 shares at an average price of $5.89, reducing her position by 9.69% to 41,030 shares.
- Weak operating results: The company’s latest quarterly revenue fell 4% year over year to $1.19 billion, while adjusted earnings of $0.21 per share missed estimates by $0.01.
- Investor outlook remains cautious: Analysts have an average “Reduce” rating and a consensus price target of $6.80, while the stock offers an 8.4% dividend yield despite a payout ratio above 190%.
Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) insider Cindy Cox sold 4,400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.89, for a total transaction of $25,916.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 41,030 shares of the company's stock, valued at $241,666.70. The trade was a 9.69% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.
Flowers Foods Stock Performance
Shares of FLO opened at $5.97 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.27 billion, a PE ratio of 6.36 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $6.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $7.48. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 52-week low of $5.40 and a 52-week high of $13.11.
Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 20th. The company reported $0.21 EPS 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 the consensus estimate of $1.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.28 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue 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. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 0.80 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Flowers Foods Announces Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 11th were issued a $0.1250 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 11th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.4%. Flowers Foods's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 192.31%.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FLO. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the 2nd quarter worth $273,587,000. Gotham Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 859.6% during the fourth quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 4,026,582 shares of the company's stock worth $43,809,000 after purchasing an additional 3,606,962 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods during the second quarter valued at $18,168,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods during the second quarter valued at $12,070,000. Finally, Man Group plc purchased a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods during the second quarter valued at $11,830,000. 75.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several brokerages recently commented on FLO. Stephens dropped their target price on Flowers Foods from $8.00 to $6.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 24th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Flowers Foods from a "sell (d)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research report on Friday, October 2nd. BNP Paribas Exane cut their target price on Flowers Foods from $6.50 to $5.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 7th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Flowers Foods from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Flowers Foods from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Flowers Foods currently has an average rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $6.80.
Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on Flowers Foods
About Flowers Foods
(
Get Free Report)
Flowers Foods, Inc (NYSE:FLO) is a U.S. food company that produces and markets packaged bakery products. Its portfolio includes breads, buns, rolls, snack cakes, pastries and other baked goods sold through grocery stores, mass retailers, foodservice providers and other retail channels.
The company's brands include Nature's Own, Dave's Killer Bread, Wonder, Canyon Bakehouse, Tastykake and Mrs. Freshley's. Flowers Foods distributes its products throughout the United States through a combination of direct-store-delivery and warehouse distribution systems.
Flowers Foods traces its history to 1919, when it began as a bakery business in Thomasville, Georgia.
Further Reading
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