Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) Hits New 12-Month Low - Here's Why

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on FLO. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Flowers Foods from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 16th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Flowers Foods from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, May 19th.

Flowers Foods Stock Down 1.2%

The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $16.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.98. The company has a market capitalization of $3.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.24 and a beta of 0.33.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, May 16th. The company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.60 billion. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 18.91% and a net margin of 4.49%. The firm's revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.38 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 19th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 5th were issued a $0.2475 dividend. This is an increase from Flowers Foods's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.45%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 5th. Flowers Foods's payout ratio is presently 91.67%.

Insider Transactions at Flowers Foods

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Flowers Foods

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,737,981 shares of the company's stock worth $469,767,000 after acquiring an additional 518,745 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 91.6% during the first quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 8,392,872 shares of the company's stock worth $159,548,000 after acquiring an additional 4,011,428 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 270.3% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,449,240 shares of the company's stock worth $141,610,000 after acquiring an additional 5,437,735 shares during the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP raised its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 5,612,523 shares of the company's stock valued at $106,694,000 after acquiring an additional 159,460 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,299,631 shares of the company's stock valued at $88,829,000 after acquiring an additional 428,963 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.