Hostess Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:TWNK) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Hostess Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:TWNK – Get Rating) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $26.71.

TWNK has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Hostess Brands from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 3rd. Morgan Stanley downgraded Hostess Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $25.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 20th. Credit Suisse Group upped their price objective on Hostess Brands from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on Hostess Brands in a research report on Wednesday, October 12th. They set a “hold” rating for the company.

Hostess Brands Stock Down 0.8 %

TWNK stock opened at $22.12 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $24.28 and a 200 day moving average of $23.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.96 billion, a PE ratio of 18.43 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Hostess Brands has a 52 week low of $18.97 and a 52 week high of $29.00.

Hostess Brands (NASDAQ:TWNK – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 2nd. The company reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.02. Hostess Brands had a net margin of 12.75% and a return on equity of 7.66%. The business had revenue of $346.23 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $322.43 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.21 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 20.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Hostess Brands will post 0.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Hostess Brands

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. increased its position in Hostess Brands by 6.8% during the first quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 12,838 shares of the company’s stock worth $282,000 after buying an additional 815 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Hostess Brands in the first quarter valued at approximately $957,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Hostess Brands by 112.1% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,463,670 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,113,000 after purchasing an additional 773,528 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. lifted its stake in Hostess Brands by 204.5% during the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 128,328 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,815,000 after purchasing an additional 86,182 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Hostess Brands by 701.6% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 8,248 shares of the company’s stock worth $182,000 after buying an additional 7,219 shares in the last quarter.

Hostess Brands Company Profile

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Hostess Brands, Inc, a packaged food company, develops, manufactures, markets, sells, and distributes snack products in the United States. The company provides a range of snack cakes, donuts, sweet rolls, breakfast pastries, cookies, snack pies, sweet baked goods, wafers, bread and buns, danishes, honey buns, coffee cakes, and sugar-free products.