Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) Sets New 52-Week Low - Should You Sell?

Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $18.97 and last traded at $19.30, with a volume of 150538 shares. 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 research note on Friday, December 20th.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $4.03 billion, a PE ratio of 16.80, a P/E/G ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.39. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $21.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.03. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 4.70% and a return on equity of 19.41%. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.29 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. Flowers Foods's payout ratio is currently 84.21%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Flowers Foods

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FLO. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Flowers Foods by 65.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,314,556 shares of the company's stock worth $29,104,000 after buying an additional 520,661 shares during the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Flowers Foods in the second quarter worth about $10,392,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 6.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,159,076 shares of the company's stock worth $95,971,000 after acquiring an additional 259,216 shares during the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 85.4% during the third quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 540,104 shares of the company's stock worth $12,460,000 after acquiring an additional 248,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. boosted its position in Flowers Foods by 423.1% in the third quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 306,848 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,079,000 after buying an additional 248,185 shares during the last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is 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.