Flowers Foods, Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.24 (NYSE:FLO)

Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 14th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of 0.24 per share on Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.96%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th.

Flowers Foods has increased its dividend payment by an average of 4.6% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 23 consecutive years. Flowers Foods has a payout ratio of 78.0% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings tumble. Analysts expect Flowers Foods to earn $1.29 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 74.4%.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:FLO opened at $19.36 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The company has a market capitalization of $4.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.54, a PEG ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.38. Flowers Foods has a 12 month low of $17.99 and a 12 month high of $26.12. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $19.69 and its 200 day moving average is $21.57.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.01. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 4.86%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.20 EPS. Research analysts predict that Flowers Foods will post 1.18 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, DA Davidson lowered their price objective 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 issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.00.

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.