Flowers Foods, Inc. (FLO) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.24 on June 20th

Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 23rd, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 6th will be given a dividend of 0.24 per share on Thursday, June 20th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.10%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 6th. This is a positive change from Flowers Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23.

Flowers Foods has raised its dividend payment by an average of 4.8% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 22 consecutive years.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

Flowers Foods stock opened at $23.43 on Friday. Flowers Foods has a 12 month low of $19.64 and a 12 month high of $26.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $24.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.95 billion, a PE ratio of 39.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.04 and a beta of 0.37.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 16th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 18.35% and a net margin of 2.45%. The company’s revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.38 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Flowers Foods will post 1.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Flowers Foods

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 transaction of $845,294.47. Following the sale, the insider now owns 42,740 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $987,721.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Flowers Foods news, Director Edward J. Jr. Casey purchased 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $23.55 per share, with a total value of $117,750.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 20,330 shares in the company, valued at $478,771.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Terry S. Thomas sold 36,577 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.11, for a total value of $845,294.47. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 42,740 shares in the company, valued at $987,721.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 11.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on FLO. StockNews.com upgraded Flowers Foods from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. DA Davidson upped their target price on Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Flowers Foods from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Flowers Foods currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $24.00.

About Flowers Foods

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.