Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) Hits New 12-Month Low – Here’s Why

Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $18.97 and last traded at $19.30, with a volume of 150538 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $19.00.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Flowers Foods Price Performance

The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $21.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $22.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.91, a P/E/G ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.39.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.20 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.29 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.27 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th were given a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.98%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 84.21%.

Institutional Trading of Flowers Foods

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FLO. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,159,076 shares of the company’s stock valued at $95,971,000 after buying an additional 259,216 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its holdings in Flowers Foods by 85.0% in the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 72,886 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,681,000 after buying an additional 33,480 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB bought a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the fourth quarter worth about $4,461,000. Thomasville National Bank grew its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 30.2% during the third quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 429,014 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,897,000 after purchasing an additional 99,599 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Flowers Foods by 94.7% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 180,227 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,158,000 after purchasing an additional 87,654 shares during the period. 75.45% of the stock is 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.