Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the four ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $24.00.

Several research firms recently weighed in on FLO. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. StockNews.com raised shares of Flowers Foods from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Flowers Foods from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

NYSE:FLO opened at $22.35 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The company has a market cap of $4.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.88, a P/E/G ratio of 5.80 and a beta of 0.37. Flowers Foods has a fifty-two week low of $19.64 and a fifty-two week high of $26.33. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $23.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.15.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 18.35% and a net margin of 2.45%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.38 EPS. Analysts expect that Flowers Foods will post 1.24 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 6th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.30%. This is a positive change from Flowers Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 6th. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is presently 162.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Flowers Foods

In other news, Director Edward J. Jr. Casey bought 5,000 shares of Flowers Foods stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $23.55 per share, with a total value of $117,750.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 20,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $478,771.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 11.42% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Flowers Foods

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Flowers Foods during the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its stake in Flowers Foods by 80.3% in the 1st quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,208 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 538 shares during the period. Financial Connections Group Inc. acquired a new position in Flowers Foods in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Gladius Capital Management LP increased its stake in Flowers Foods by 46.4% in the 3rd quarter. Gladius Capital Management LP now owns 1,539 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 488 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in Flowers Foods in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 75.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.