Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report released on Monday.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

Flowers Foods stock opened at $21.58 on Monday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.98. Flowers Foods has a 12 month low of $20.50 and a 12 month high of $26.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.54 billion, a PE ratio of 18.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.36.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.20 billion. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 2.51% and a return on equity of 18.97%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.29 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Flowers Foods will post 1.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio is presently 84.21%.

Institutional Trading of Flowers Foods

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FLO. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. grew its stake in Flowers Foods by 239.6% in the 3rd quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 165,939 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,828,000 after acquiring an additional 117,079 shares during the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Flowers Foods during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $205,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Flowers Foods by 202.4% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,160 shares of the company’s stock valued at $142,000 after buying an additional 4,123 shares in the last quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC increased its position in Flowers Foods by 4.8% during the third quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 87,043 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,008,000 after buying an additional 3,951 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 329,400.0% in the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 3,295 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 3,294 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.