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

Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $20.21 and last traded at $20.40, with a volume of 1681690 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $20.45.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th.

Flowers Foods Trading Up 0.6 %

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’s 50-day moving average is $21.98 and its 200 day moving average is $22.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.04 and a beta of 0.37.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last announced its earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.20 billion. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 4.70% and a return on equity of 19.41%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.29 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.68%. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is 84.21%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in Flowers Foods by 2.0% during the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 23,779 shares of the company’s stock worth $528,000 after purchasing an additional 466 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock worth $273,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the period. ClearAlpha Technologies LP lifted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. ClearAlpha Technologies LP now owns 14,013 shares of the company’s stock worth $323,000 after acquiring an additional 590 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 21,728 shares of the company’s stock worth $482,000 after acquiring an additional 603 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI increased its stake in Flowers Foods by 1.4% in the second quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI now owns 45,165 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,003,000 after acquiring an additional 625 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

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.