Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Receives Consensus Rating of “Reduce” from Analysts

Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the five ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $23.20.

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on Flowers Foods in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $20.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Flowers Foods from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Flowers Foods

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. HB Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Flowers Foods in the 4th quarter worth $212,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 143.6% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 39,410 shares of the company’s stock worth $887,000 after buying an additional 23,229 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 420,951 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,476,000 after buying an additional 11,675 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Flowers Foods in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $244,000. Finally, Coston McIsaac & Partners lifted its stake in Flowers Foods by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Coston McIsaac & Partners now owns 175,802 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,956,000 after acquiring an additional 7,022 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

Shares of FLO stock opened at $22.28 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. Flowers Foods has a 12 month low of $19.64 and a 12 month high of $26.33. The firm has a market cap of $4.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.76, a PEG ratio of 5.77 and a beta of 0.36. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $22.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.08.

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). Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 18.35% and a net margin of 2.45%. The business had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.38 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Flowers Foods will post 1.23 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 6th were paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 6th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.31%. This is a positive change from Flowers Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is presently 162.71%.

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.