Hostess Brands (NASDAQ:TWNK) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume

Shares of Hostess Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:TWNK) saw an uptick in trading volume on Thursday . 1,719,637 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 64% from the previous session’s volume of 1,050,778 shares.The stock last traded at $28.82 and had previously closed at $28.06.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on TWNK. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Hostess Brands from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 9th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Hostess Brands in a research note on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Hostess Brands from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $28.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of Hostess Brands from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 9th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $26.83.

Hostess Brands Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.80 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.63, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.62. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $24.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $24.87.

Hostess Brands (NASDAQ:TWNK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 8th. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $352.36 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $359.24 million. Hostess Brands had a net margin of 12.28% and a return on equity of 7.82%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.22 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Hostess Brands, Inc. will post 1.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Hostess Brands

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TWNK. UMB Bank n.a. bought a new stake in Hostess Brands during the first quarter worth about $28,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Hostess Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. IFP Advisors Inc grew its stake in shares of Hostess Brands by 58.3% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,472 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 910 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Hostess Brands during the second quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Finally, West Tower Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hostess Brands during the second quarter valued at approximately $48,000.

About Hostess Brands

Hostess Brands, Inc develops, manufactures, markets, sells, and distributes snack products in the United States and Canada. 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.