Jefferies Financial Group Cuts Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) Price Target to $16.00

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) had its price target trimmed by Jefferies Financial Group from $20.00 to $16.00 in a report published on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a hold rating on the stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Flowers Foods from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $19.25.

Flowers Foods Stock Up 1.3%

NYSE:FLO opened at $17.29 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $18.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.64. Flowers Foods has a 52 week low of $16.43 and a 52 week high of $25.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.37.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last posted its earnings results on Friday, May 16th. The company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.60 billion. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 4.86% and a return on equity of 19.48%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.38 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Flowers Foods will post 1.18 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Flowers Foods

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,737,981 shares of the company’s stock worth $469,767,000 after buying an additional 518,745 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 91.6% during the first quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 8,392,872 shares of the company’s stock worth $159,548,000 after buying an additional 4,011,428 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 270.3% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,449,240 shares of the company’s stock worth $141,610,000 after buying an additional 5,437,735 shares during the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP grew its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 2.9% during the first quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 5,612,523 shares of the company’s stock worth $106,694,000 after buying an additional 159,460 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Flowers Foods by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,299,631 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,829,000 after purchasing an additional 428,963 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.