Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the four research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $24.00.

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

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

NYSE:FLO opened at $22.35 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $23.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $23.15. Flowers Foods has a twelve month low of $19.64 and a twelve month high of $26.33. The company has a market capitalization of $4.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.80 and a beta of 0.37.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 2.45% and a return on equity of 18.35%. The business’s revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.38 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Flowers Foods will post 1.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.30%. This is an increase from Flowers Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 6th. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is presently 162.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Flowers Foods

In other Flowers Foods news, Director Edward J. Jr. Casey acquired 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $23.55 per share, for a total transaction of $117,750.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 20,330 shares in the company, valued at $478,771.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 11.42% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Flowers Foods

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of FLO. Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 37.0% in the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 4,583,334 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,171,000 after purchasing an additional 1,238,749 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the fourth quarter valued at $26,016,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the third quarter valued at $19,875,000. Verition Fund Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 293.7% in the fourth quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 782,518 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,614,000 after purchasing an additional 583,749 shares during the period. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the fourth quarter valued at $11,518,000. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.