Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.24

Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 14th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of 0.24 per share on Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.05%.

Flowers Foods has increased its dividend payment by an average of 4.6% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 23 consecutive years. Flowers Foods has a payout ratio of 76.8% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings tumble. Research analysts expect Flowers Foods to earn $1.30 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 73.8%.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

NYSE FLO opened at $19.00 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $20.12 and a 200-day moving average of $21.79. The firm has a market cap of $4.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.67, a PEG ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. Flowers Foods has a 1-year low of $18.34 and a 1-year high of $26.12.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.01. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 4.70% and a return on equity of 19.41%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.20 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Flowers Foods will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com cut Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. DA Davidson dropped their target price on shares of Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price target 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Flowers Foods presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.00.

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.