Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) Sets New 52-Week Low - Time to Sell?

Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report)'s share price reached a new 52-week low on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $20.21 and last traded at $20.40, with a volume of 1681690 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $20.45.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com cut Flowers Foods from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $22.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.44. The company has a market cap of $4.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.00, a P/E/G ratio of 4.04 and a beta of 0.37.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last posted its 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. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 19.41% and a net margin of 4.70%. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.20 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.29 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.68%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. Flowers Foods's dividend payout ratio is presently 84.21%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Flowers Foods

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FLO. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 21.6% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 135,572 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,080,000 after buying an additional 24,085 shares in the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 144.5% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 40,422 shares of the company's stock worth $933,000 after acquiring an additional 23,890 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 4.8% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 27,266 shares of the company's stock worth $629,000 after acquiring an additional 1,261 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Flowers Foods by 6.6% in the third 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 during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 88.6% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 287,625 shares of the company's stock worth $6,636,000 after buying an additional 135,111 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.