Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Receives $24.00 Average Target Price from Brokerages

Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the four brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $24.00.

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on FLO shares. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. StockNews.com raised Flowers Foods from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Flowers Foods from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th.

Flowers Foods Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of Flowers Foods stock opened at $22.16 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $23.66 and a 200 day moving average of $23.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.55, a PEG ratio of 5.72 and a beta of 0.36. Flowers Foods has a fifty-two week low of $19.64 and a fifty-two week high of $26.33.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 16th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.02). Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 18.35% and a net margin of 2.45%. The business had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.38 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Flowers Foods will post 1.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowers Foods Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 6th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.33%. This is a boost from Flowers Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 6th. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is presently 162.71%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Flowers Foods

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,148,077 shares of the company’s stock worth $453,533,000 after purchasing an additional 84,001 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 37.0% during the 4th quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 4,583,334 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,171,000 after acquiring an additional 1,238,749 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,690,327 shares of the company’s stock valued at $83,069,000 after acquiring an additional 37,237 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,616,216 shares of the company’s stock valued at $81,401,000 after acquiring an additional 18,730 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Southeast Asset Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Southeast Asset Advisors Inc. now owns 3,276,549 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,755,000 after acquiring an additional 125,761 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.