StockNews.com Upgrades Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) to Strong-Buy

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

Flowers Foods Price Performance

NYSE FLO opened at $21.71 on Monday. 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 1 year low of $20.50 and a 1 year high of $26.12. The company has a market cap of $4.57 billion, a PE ratio of 19.04, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.36. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $22.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.96.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.03. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 2.51% and a return on equity of 18.97%. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.20 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.29 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Flowers Foods will post 1.25 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Flowers Foods

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in FLO. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in Flowers Foods by 4.3% during the second 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 increased its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 73.1% in 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 during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Flowers Foods by 4.5% during 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% in the third 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

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.