Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) Hits New 1-Year Low - Here's What Happened

Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) shares hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $15.43 and last traded at $15.52, with a volume of 1394889 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $15.63.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FLO has been the topic of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Flowers Foods from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Wall Street Zen lowered Flowers Foods from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th.

Flowers Foods Stock Up 0.9%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market cap of $3.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.37 and a beta of 0.33. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $16.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $18.04.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last released its 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). Flowers Foods had a net margin of 4.49% and a return on equity of 18.91%. The company had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.60 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.38 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 19th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 5th were paid a $0.2475 dividend. This is a positive change from Flowers Foods's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.38%. Flowers Foods's dividend payout ratio is presently 91.67%.

Insider Transactions at Flowers Foods

In other news, Director George E. Deese purchased 6,000 shares of Flowers Foods stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $16.84 per share, with a total value of $101,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,004,990 shares in the company, valued at $33,764,031.60. This trade represents a 0.30% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director William Jameson Mcfadden purchased 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $16.92 per share, for a total transaction of $50,760.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 532,476 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,009,493.92. This trade represents a 0.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 12,000 shares of company stock valued at $202,440 over the last three months. 11.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Flowers Foods

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FLO. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Flowers Foods during the 4th quarter worth approximately $330,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Flowers Foods during the 4th quarter worth approximately $12,058,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in Flowers Foods by 12.7% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 43,758 shares of the company's stock worth $904,000 after buying an additional 4,933 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance raised its holdings in Flowers Foods by 16.5% during the 4th quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 15,559 shares of the company's stock worth $321,000 after buying an additional 2,202 shares during the period. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Flowers Foods by 103.5% during the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 56,833 shares of the company's stock worth $1,174,000 after buying an additional 28,911 shares during the period. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.