Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at StockNews.com

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) was upgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report issued on Monday.

Flowers Foods Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of FLO traded up $0.14 on Monday, hitting $21.58. 1,589,945 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,169,338. The company has a market capitalization of $4.54 billion, a PE ratio of 18.93, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.19. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.98. Flowers Foods has a one year low of $20.50 and a one year high of $26.12.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.03. The company 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 2.51% and a return on equity of 18.97%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.29 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Flowers Foods will post 1.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Flowers Foods

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FLO. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods during the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 18,254.5% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,019 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 2,008 shares during the period. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods during the 3rd quarter valued at $52,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods during the 2nd quarter valued at $59,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 7,694.7% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,962 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,000 after acquiring an additional 2,924 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Flowers Foods Company Profile

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.