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 report released on Monday.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

Shares of FLO stock opened at $21.83 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.15, a PEG ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.36. Flowers Foods has a one year low of $20.50 and a one year high of $26.12. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $22.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.24.

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

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 84.21%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Flowers Foods

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 10.8% during the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 247,530 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,879,000 after purchasing an additional 24,192 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. increased its position in Flowers Foods by 3.1% in the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 206,126 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,895,000 after buying an additional 6,279 shares during the period. Seven Eight Capital LP lifted its stake in Flowers Foods by 254.1% in the first quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP now owns 38,431 shares of the company’s stock valued at $913,000 after buying an additional 27,577 shares during the last quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Flowers Foods during the first quarter valued at $581,000. Finally, Keynote Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Flowers Foods during the first quarter worth about $224,000. 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.