Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) Hits New 52-Week Low – Should You Sell?

Shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) reached a new 52-week low on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $20.21 and last traded at $20.40, with a volume of 1681690 shares. The stock had previously closed at $20.45.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday.

Flowers Foods Stock Down 0.2 %

The stock has a market cap of $4.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.89, a P/E/G ratio of 4.04 and a beta of 0.37. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $22.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.24.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 4.70% and a return on equity of 19.41%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.29 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.71%. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is 84.21%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Flowers Foods

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FLO. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods in the third quarter valued at $29,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in Flowers Foods by 18,254.5% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,019 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 2,008 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in Flowers Foods in the third quarter worth about $52,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Flowers Foods in the 2nd quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 329,400.0% during the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 3,295 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 3,294 shares in the last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is owned by 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.