StockNews.com Upgrades Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) to “Strong-Buy”

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Tuesday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on FLO. DA Davidson raised their price objective 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. BNP Paribas started coverage on Flowers Foods in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. They issued an underperform rating and a $20.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $22.75.

Flowers Foods Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE FLO opened at $23.34 on Tuesday. Flowers Foods has a 12-month low of $19.64 and a 12-month high of $26.12. The stock has a market cap of $4.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.55, a PEG ratio of 4.52 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $22.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.12.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 16th. The company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.24 billion. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 18.97% and a net margin of 2.51%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Flowers Foods will post 1.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.11%. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is 162.71%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Flowers Foods

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Flowers Foods during the first quarter worth about $2,224,000. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,422,000. Armistice Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $839,000. Inceptionr LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods during the fourth quarter worth $321,000. Finally, Southeast Asset Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Southeast Asset Advisors Inc. now owns 3,276,549 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,755,000 after purchasing an additional 125,761 shares during the period. 75.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.