Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) Raised to “Buy” at StockNews.com

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) was upgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Thursday.

Separately, DA Davidson assumed coverage on Flowers Foods in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $24.00 price target on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Flowers Foods has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $24.00.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

Shares of FLO traded up $0.03 on Thursday, reaching $23.75. The stock had a trading volume of 1,139,828 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,197,719. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.00 billion, a PE ratio of 40.95, a PEG ratio of 4.39 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $22.83 and a 200 day moving average of $22.26. Flowers Foods has a twelve month low of $19.64 and a twelve month high of $29.10.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20. The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.13 billion. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 18.15% and a net margin of 2.42%. Flowers Foods’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.23 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Flowers Foods will post 1.25 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Terry S. Thomas sold 36,577 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.11, for a total value of $845,294.47. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 42,740 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $987,721.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 11.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in FLO. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 206.0% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,286,504 shares of the company’s stock worth $473,823,000 after buying an additional 11,637,370 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Flowers Foods in the 4th quarter valued at $38,880,000. Boston Trust Walden Corp increased its holdings in Flowers Foods by 37.0% in the 4th quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 4,583,334 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,171,000 after purchasing an additional 1,238,749 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in Flowers Foods by 73.6% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,383,121 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,321,000 after purchasing an additional 1,010,211 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in Flowers Foods by 84.0% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,165,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,235,000 after purchasing an additional 988,809 shares in the last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.