Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Given Average Recommendation of “Reduce” by Brokerages

Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) has been given an average recommendation of “Reduce” by the four research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $22.75.

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on FLO. BNP Paribas began coverage on shares of Flowers Foods in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $20.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com cut shares of Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Flowers Foods

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FLO. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in Flowers Foods during the first quarter worth $26,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its stake in Flowers Foods by 80.3% during the first quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,208 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 538 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp acquired a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 56.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,325 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 840 shares during the period. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Flowers Foods in the second quarter valued at approximately $59,000. 75.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

Shares of FLO opened at $23.69 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $22.71 and its 200-day moving average is $23.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.14, a P/E/G ratio of 4.36 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.91. Flowers Foods has a 12-month low of $19.64 and a 12-month high of $26.12.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last released its earnings results on Friday, August 16th. The company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.24 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 .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.33 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Flowers Foods will post 1.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.05%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.