Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) Upgraded 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 Thursday.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

Flowers Foods stock opened at $21.21 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.54. Flowers Foods has a 12 month low of $20.95 and a 12 month high of $26.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.47 billion, a PE ratio of 18.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.04 and a beta of 0.37.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.29 EPS. Flowers Foods’s quarterly revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Flowers Foods will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 84.21%.

Institutional Trading of Flowers Foods

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in Flowers Foods by 4.3% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 5,851,682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $129,907,000 after acquiring an additional 242,797 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP increased its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 73.1% in the 2nd quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 5,301,518 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,694,000 after purchasing an additional 2,239,592 shares in the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 1.2% in the second quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 4,623,017 shares of the company’s stock valued at $102,631,000 after purchasing an additional 54,757 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 259,216 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Flowers Foods by 4.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,720,302 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,592,000 after buying an additional 160,794 shares during the period. 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.