Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) Hits New 1-Year Low - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) reached a new 52-week low of $13.45, closing slightly higher at $13.47 with a significant trading volume of over 6.7 million shares.
• Analysts have reduced their target prices for the stock, with the consensus rating now at "Hold" and a target price of $15.33.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.2475 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 7.3% despite a high payout ratio of 95.19%.

Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report)'s stock price reached a new 52-week low during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $13.45 and last traded at $13.47, with a volume of 6730242 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $13.75.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on FLO shares. DA Davidson reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $15.00 target price on shares of Flowers Foods in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Truist Financial cut their target price on Flowers Foods from $20.00 to $15.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Flowers Foods from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $15.33.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.26. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $15.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $16.82. The company has a market cap of $2.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.96 and a beta of 0.29.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 15th. The company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.27 billion. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 17.85% and a net margin of 4.30%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.36 EPS. Flowers Foods has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.000-1.10 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.2475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.3%. Flowers Foods's payout ratio is 95.19%.

Insider Activity at Flowers Foods

In other news, insider Cindy Cox sold 3,600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.00, for a total transaction of $54,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 16,994 shares of the company's stock, valued at $254,910. The trade was a 17.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 11.57% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Flowers Foods

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Moran Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Moran Wealth Management LLC now owns 191,278 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,636,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC now owns 59,492 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,131,000 after acquiring an additional 598 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 31,837 shares of the company's stock valued at $604,000 after acquiring an additional 620 shares in the last quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 32,040 shares of the company's stock valued at $609,000 after acquiring an additional 712 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Belpointe Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 7.3% during the 2nd quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 11,245 shares of the company's stock valued at $180,000 after acquiring an additional 764 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.45% of the company's stock.

About Flowers Foods

Flowers Foods, Inc produces and markets packaged bakery food products in the United States. Its principal products include fresh breads, buns, rolls, snack items, bagels, English muffins, and tortillas, as well as frozen breads and rolls under the Nature's Own, Dave's Killer Bread, Wonder, Canyon Bakehouse, Mrs.

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