Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) Rating Lowered to Buy at StockNews.com

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday.

Separately, BNP Paribas began coverage on shares of Flowers Foods in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $20.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Flowers Foods presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $22.75.

Flowers Foods Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of FLO stock opened at $23.77 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. Flowers Foods has a 12 month low of $19.64 and a 12 month high of $26.12. The stock has a market cap of $5.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.29, a P/E/G ratio of 4.36 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.15.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 16th. The company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.03. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 18.97% and a net margin of 2.51%. The company had revenue of $1.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.24 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.33 EPS. Flowers Foods’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Flowers Foods will post 1.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Flowers Foods

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of FLO. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Flowers Foods in the 1st quarter worth approximately $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 valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 538 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp bought a new position in Flowers Foods during the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Flowers Foods by 56.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,325 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 840 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods in the 2nd quarter worth about $59,000. 75.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.