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 research note issued to investors on Monday morning.

Flowers Foods Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of FLO stock opened at $21.83 on Monday. Flowers Foods has a fifty-two week low of $20.50 and a fifty-two week high of $26.12. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $22.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.93. The stock has a market cap of $4.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.03. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 4.70% and a return on equity of 19.41%. The firm had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.20 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.29 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Flowers Foods will post 1.27 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th were issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.40%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio is presently 84.21%.

Institutional Trading of Flowers Foods

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FLO. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in Flowers Foods by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 5,851,682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $129,907,000 after purchasing an additional 242,797 shares in the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP grew its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 73.1% during the second quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 5,301,518 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,694,000 after acquiring an additional 2,239,592 shares in the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp increased its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 1.2% during the second quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 4,623,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $102,631,000 after acquiring an additional 54,757 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Flowers Foods by 4.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,720,302 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,592,000 after purchasing an additional 160,794 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Flowers Foods by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,008,103 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,327,000 after purchasing an additional 58,141 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.