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

Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)’s stock price reached a new 52-week low during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $21.19 and last traded at $21.23, with a volume of 1452165 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $21.29.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of Flowers Foods from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.24. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $22.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $22.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.47 billion, a PE ratio of 18.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.04 and a beta of 0.37.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.29 EPS. On average, equities 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. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.53%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 84.21%.

Institutional Trading of Flowers Foods

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 2.0% in the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 23,779 shares of the company’s stock worth $528,000 after acquiring an additional 466 shares in the last quarter. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 1.0% in the second quarter. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC now owns 52,779 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,172,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 4.4% in the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock worth $273,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. ClearAlpha Technologies LP grew its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 4.4% in the third quarter. ClearAlpha Technologies LP now owns 14,013 shares of the company’s stock worth $323,000 after acquiring an additional 590 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 2.9% in the second 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.