Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) Reaches New 12-Month Low – Should You Sell?

Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) shares hit a new 52-week low during trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $17.99 and last traded at $18.29, with a volume of 301062 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $18.16.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on FLO shares. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Flowers Foods from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, DA Davidson lowered their price target on shares of Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Flowers Foods currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $21.00.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.20. The company has a market capitalization of $3.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $19.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.01.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 7th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.01. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 4.86% and a return on equity of 19.48%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.20 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.29%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 82.05%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Flowers Foods by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,159,076 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,971,000 after purchasing an additional 259,216 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 642.6% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 113,637 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,348,000 after buying an additional 98,335 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 85.0% during the third 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 in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its position in Flowers Foods by 2,156.0% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 136,354 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,817,000 after buying an additional 130,310 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB bought a new stake in Flowers Foods in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $4,461,000. 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.