Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) Sets New 1-Year Low – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $20.59 and last traded at $20.74, with a volume of 79236 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $20.92.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Flowers Foods from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th.

Flowers Foods Trading Down 0.4 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The stock has a market cap of $4.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.04 and a beta of 0.37. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $22.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.51.

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

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.61%. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is 84.21%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Flowers Foods

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FLO. Cooke & Bieler LP lifted its holdings in Flowers Foods by 73.1% during the second quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 5,301,518 shares of the company’s stock worth $117,694,000 after acquiring an additional 2,239,592 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Flowers Foods by 65.6% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,314,556 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,104,000 after acquiring an additional 520,661 shares during the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Flowers Foods during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $10,392,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 259,216 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 85.4% in the third quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 540,104 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,460,000 after purchasing an additional 248,800 shares during the last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.