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

Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)’s share price hit a new 52-week low during 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 Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Flowers Foods Stock Up 1.5 %

The firm has a market cap of $4.06 billion, a PE ratio of 16.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $21.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last posted its quarterly 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 firm 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 in the prior year, the business posted $0.29 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.98%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio is currently 84.21%.

Institutional Trading of Flowers Foods

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 18,254.5% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,019 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 2,008 shares during the period. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods during the third quarter valued at $52,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Flowers Foods in the 2nd quarter worth $59,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC lifted its position in Flowers Foods by 329,400.0% during the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 3,295 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 3,294 shares during the period. 75.45% of the stock is 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.