Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) was upgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday.

FLO has been the topic of a number of other reports. BNP Paribas began coverage on Flowers Foods in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $20.00 target price on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Flowers Foods from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their target price on Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.75.

Flowers Foods Trading Down 0.8 %

FLO opened at $22.87 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.76, a PEG ratio of 5.84 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.82. Flowers Foods has a one year low of $19.64 and a one year high of $26.12.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 16th. The company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.03. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 18.35% and a net margin of 2.45%. The firm had revenue of $1.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.24 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.33 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Flowers Foods will post 1.23 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Flowers Foods

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Cooke & Bieler LP increased its holdings in Flowers Foods by 73.1% during the second quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 5,301,518 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,694,000 after buying an additional 2,239,592 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods during the fourth quarter valued at $26,016,000. Verition Fund Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 293.7% during the fourth quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 782,518 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,614,000 after buying an additional 583,749 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 65.6% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,314,556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,104,000 after buying an additional 520,661 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods during the second quarter valued at $10,392,000. 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.