Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Raises Dividend to $0.25 Per Share

Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 22nd, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be given a dividend of 0.2475 per share on Thursday, June 19th. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.86%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 5th. This is a 3.1% increase from Flowers Foods's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24.

Flowers Foods has raised its dividend payment by an average of 4.6% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 23 consecutive years. Flowers Foods has a dividend payout ratio of 81.4% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company's earnings decline. Research 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 Up 2.5%

Shares of Flowers Foods stock traded up $0.41 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $16.89. 994,153 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,243,149. The firm has a market cap of $3.57 billion, a PE ratio of 14.42, a PEG ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.20. Flowers Foods has a 1 year low of $16.28 and a 1 year high of $23.87. The stock's fifty day moving average is $17.88 and its 200 day moving average is $19.38.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 16th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.60 billion. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 4.86%. Flowers Foods's revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.38 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Flowers Foods will post 1.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Flowers Foods

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FLO. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 10.6% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 150,404 shares of the company's stock worth $2,859,000 after purchasing an additional 14,476 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the 1st quarter valued at about $499,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 7.2% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 976,456 shares of the company's stock valued at $18,562,000 after purchasing an additional 65,258 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings in Flowers Foods by 12.2% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 744,714 shares of the company's stock worth $14,157,000 after buying an additional 81,066 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in Flowers Foods by 209.6% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 949,688 shares of the company's stock worth $18,054,000 after buying an additional 642,942 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.45% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on FLO. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Flowers Foods from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $19.25.

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.