Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) Shares Gap Down After Earnings Miss

Shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) gapped down prior to trading on Friday following a dissappointing earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $17.07, but opened at $16.63. Flowers Foods shares last traded at $17.17, with a volume of 648,874 shares changing hands.

The company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by ($0.03). Flowers Foods had a net margin of 4.86% and a return on equity of 19.48%. The firm had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.60 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.38 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on FLO shares. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Flowers Foods from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Flowers Foods from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $19.25.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of FLO. Barclays PLC lifted its position in Flowers Foods by 88.6% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 287,625 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,636,000 after buying an additional 135,111 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 21.6% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 135,572 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,080,000 after purchasing an additional 24,085 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 171.8% during the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 2,623 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 1,658 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 642.6% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 113,637 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,348,000 after purchasing an additional 98,335 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 105,514 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,180,000 after purchasing an additional 9,626 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $3.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.77, a PEG ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.37. 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 company’s 50-day moving average price is $18.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $19.64.

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.