Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) Hits New 12-Month Low – What’s Next?

Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) shares reached a new 52-week low on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $20.10 and last traded at $20.10, with a volume of 209 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $20.55.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com cut Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th.

Flowers Foods Trading Up 0.2 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $4.34 billion, a PE ratio of 18.06, a P/E/G ratio of 4.04 and a beta of 0.37. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $21.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.20 billion. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 19.41% and a net margin of 4.70%. Flowers Foods’s quarterly revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.29 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.66%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio is currently 84.21%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Flowers Foods

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FLO. Cooke & Bieler LP increased its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 73.1% during the 2nd quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 5,301,518 shares of the company’s stock worth $117,694,000 after buying an additional 2,239,592 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Flowers Foods by 65.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,314,556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,104,000 after purchasing an additional 520,661 shares during the period. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the 2nd quarter valued at $10,392,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,159,076 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,971,000 after purchasing an additional 259,216 shares during the period. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 85.4% during the 3rd quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 540,104 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,460,000 after purchasing an additional 248,800 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.