Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning.

FLO has been the topic of a number of other reports. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Flowers Foods in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. They issued an underperform rating and a $20.00 price target on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Flowers Foods presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $22.75.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FLO opened at $23.16 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $22.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.19 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 company has a market cap of $4.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.36 and a beta of 0.36.

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

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is 162.71%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Flowers Foods

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Flowers Foods during the first quarter worth $26,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its position 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 buying an additional 538 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp acquired a new position in Flowers Foods during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased 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 worth $55,000 after buying an additional 840 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Flowers Foods during the second quarter worth $59,000. 75.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.