Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Receives Consensus Rating of "Reduce" from Analysts

Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) has earned an average recommendation of "Reduce" from the four analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $22.75.

Several brokerages have issued reports on FLO. StockNews.com cut Flowers Foods from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Flowers Foods in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $20.00 price objective for the company.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

Shares of FLO traded up $0.31 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $22.40. 970,254 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,188,204. The stock has a market cap of $4.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.43 and a beta of 0.36. Flowers Foods has a 1-year low of $19.64 and a 1-year high of $26.12. The company has a 50 day moving average of $22.97 and a 200-day moving average of $23.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.19.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 16th. The company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.03. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 18.97% and a net margin of 2.51%. The firm had revenue of $1.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.33 EPS. The firm's revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Flowers Foods will post 1.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.29%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. Flowers Foods's payout ratio is currently 162.71%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Truist Financial Corp raised its holdings in Flowers Foods by 3.0% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 1,265,092 shares of the company's stock valued at $28,085,000 after acquiring an additional 36,281 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $241,000. Creative Planning raised its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 424,081 shares of the company's stock valued at $9,415,000 after purchasing an additional 2,451 shares in the last quarter. Algert Global LLC lifted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 37.8% during the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 253,329 shares of the company's stock worth $5,624,000 after purchasing an additional 69,469 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 7.8% during the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 32,341 shares of the company's stock worth $718,000 after purchasing an additional 2,336 shares in the last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Flowers Foods Company Profile

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.