Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.23

Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO – Get Rating) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 25th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 8th will be given a dividend of 0.23 per share on Thursday, June 22nd. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.52%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 7th. This is an increase from Flowers Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22.

Flowers Foods has raised its dividend payment by an average of 5.1% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 20 years. Flowers Foods has a dividend payout ratio of 65.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Flowers Foods to earn $1.33 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.88 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 66.2%.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

FLO opened at $26.11 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.11 and a beta of 0.40. Flowers Foods has a 52-week low of $24.15 and a 52-week high of $30.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.32. The business’s fifty day moving average is $27.46 and its 200-day moving average is $27.98.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Friday, May 19th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.55 billion. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 17.95% and a net margin of 4.35%. Flowers Foods’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.44 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Flowers Foods will post 1.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on FLO. StockNews.com began coverage on Flowers Foods in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on Flowers Foods from $26.00 to $24.00 in a research note on Monday.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Flowers Foods

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 2.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,913,247 shares of the company’s stock valued at $491,657,000 after buying an additional 426,547 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 19,313,735 shares of the company’s stock valued at $529,389,000 after acquiring an additional 243,602 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings 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 valued at $473,823,000 after acquiring an additional 11,637,370 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 8.1% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 5,999,785 shares of the company’s stock worth $154,254,000 after buying an additional 450,441 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 7.0% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,871,950 shares of the company’s stock worth $99,548,000 after buying an additional 252,259 shares during the last quarter. 66.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Flowers Foods

(Get Rating)

Flowers Foods, Inc engages in the manufacture and sale of bakery products. The firm offers bakery foods for retail and food service customers in the United States. Its brands include Nature’s Own, Dave’s Killer Bread, Wonder, Canyon Bakehouse, Tastykake and Mrs. Freshley’s. The company was founded by William Howard Flowers, Sr.