Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Director Purchases $117,750.00 in Stock

Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) Director Edward J. Jr. Casey bought 5,000 shares of Flowers Foods stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $23.55 per share, with a total value of $117,750.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 20,330 shares in the company, valued at approximately $478,771.50. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Flowers Foods Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of FLO stock traded down $0.38 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $23.14. The company had a trading volume of 1,772,309 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,200,131. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.26. The company has a market cap of $4.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.39. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 12 month low of $19.64 and a 12 month high of $29.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.20. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 18.15% and a net margin of 2.42%. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.13 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.23 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. Flowers Foods's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 158.62%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on FLO. StockNews.com raised Flowers Foods from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. DA Davidson assumed coverage on Flowers Foods in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $24.00 target price for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $24.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Flowers Foods

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. grew its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 28.1% in the 1st quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 12,607 shares of the company's stock worth $323,000 after buying an additional 2,765 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in Flowers Foods by 22.0% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 59,123 shares of the company's stock worth $1,520,000 after purchasing an additional 10,676 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Flowers Foods in the 1st quarter worth $539,000. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC increased its stake in Flowers Foods by 60.4% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 12,920 shares of the company's stock worth $332,000 after buying an additional 4,865 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can increased its stake in Flowers Foods by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 27,286 shares of the company's stock worth $704,000 after buying an additional 1,452 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.