Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) Reaches New 12-Month Low – Time to Sell?

Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) shares hit a new 52-week low on Monday . The stock traded as low as $18.97 and last traded at $19.30, with a volume of 150538 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $19.00.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com lowered shares of Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.06 billion, a PE ratio of 16.91, a P/E/G ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.39. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $21.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $22.17.

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

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. 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 4.98%. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is 84.21%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Flowers Foods

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 65.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,314,556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,104,000 after purchasing an additional 520,661 shares during the period. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Flowers Foods during the 2nd quarter valued at $10,392,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Flowers Foods by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,159,076 shares of the company’s stock valued at $95,971,000 after purchasing an additional 259,216 shares in the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 85.4% in the 3rd quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 540,104 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,460,000 after buying an additional 248,800 shares during the period. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. grew its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 423.1% during the 3rd quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 306,848 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,079,000 after buying an additional 248,185 shares in the last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by 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.