Flowers Foods Inc. [NYSE: FLO] gained 1.28% or 0.34 points to close at $26.91 with a heavy trading volume of 3699525 shares. The company report on December 13, 2022 that FLOWERS FOODS TO ACQUIRE PAPA PITA BAKERY.
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Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE: FLO), today announced a definitive agreement to acquire Papa Pita Bakery, a manufacturer and distributor of high-quality bagels, tortillas, breads, buns, English muffins, and flat breads. The acquisition, which is subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions, is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2023.
Founded in 1983, Papa Pita operates a 270,000 sq. ft. facility in West Jordan, Utah. The company’s primary brands include Papa Pita, Great Grains, Bubba’s Bagels, and Maya’s Tortillas. In addition, the company has a significant co-manufacturing business as well as direct-store-distribution in the western U.S.
It opened the trading session at $26.60, the shares rose to $26.96 and dropped to $26.54, the range by which the price of stock traded the whole day. The daily chart for FLO points out that the company has recorded -3.48% loss over the past six months. However, it is still -11.43% lower than its most recent low trading price.
If we look at the average trading volume of 1.47M shares, FLO reached to a volume of 3699525 in the most recent trading day, which is why market watchdogs consider the stock to be active.
Here is what top equities market gurus are saying about Flowers Foods Inc. [FLO]:
Based on careful and fact-backed analyses by Wall Street experts, the current consensus on the target price for FLO shares is $29.80 per share. Analysis on target price and performance of stocks is usually carefully studied by market experts, and the current Wall Street consensus on FLO stock is a recommendation set at 3.00. This rating represents a strong Buy recommendation, on the scale from 1 to 5, where 5 would mean strong sell, 4 represents Sell, 3 is Hold, and 2 indicates Buy.
Deutsche Bank have made an estimate for Flowers Foods Inc. shares, keeping their opinion on the stock as Sell, with their previous recommendation back on December 06, 2022. While these analysts kept the previous recommendation, Stephens raised their target price to Equal-Weight. The new note on the price target was released on May 25, 2021, representing the official price target for Flowers Foods Inc. stock. Previously, the target price had yet another raise to $25, while Stephens analysts kept a Equal-Weight rating on FLO stock.
The Average True Range (ATR) for Flowers Foods Inc. is set at 0.48, with the Price to Sales ratio for FLO stock in the period of the last 12 months amounting to 1.21. The Price to Book ratio for the last quarter was 3.97, with the Price to Cash per share for the same quarter was set at 0.81.
Trading performance analysis for FLO stock
Flowers Foods Inc. [FLO] fell into the red zone at the end of the last week, falling into a negative trend and dropping by -0.44. With this latest performance, FLO shares dropped by -7.21% in over the last four-week period, additionally sinking by -3.48% over the last 6 months – not to mention a drop of -5.88% in the past year of trading.
Overbought and oversold stocks can be easily traced with the Relative Strength Index (RSI), where an RSI result of over 70 would be overbought, and any rate below 30 would indicate oversold conditions. An RSI rate of 50 would represent a neutral market momentum. The current RSI for FLO stock in for the last two-week period is set at 34.52, with the RSI for the last a single of trading hit 32.16, and the three-weeks RSI is set at 38.26 for Flowers Foods Inc. [FLO]. The present Moving Average for the last 50 days of trading for this stock 28.61, while it was recorded at 26.72 for the last single week of trading, and 27.22 for the last 200 days.
Flowers Foods Inc. [FLO]: A deeper dive into fundamental analysis
Operating Margin for any stock indicates how profitable investing would be, and Flowers Foods Inc. [FLO] shares currently have an operating margin of +8.28 and a Gross Margin at +46.66. Flowers Foods Inc.’s Net Margin is presently recorded at +4.76.
Return on Equity for this stock inclined to 14.81, with Return on Assets sitting at 6.02.
Flowers Foods Inc.’s liquidity data is similarly interesting compelling, with a Quick Ratio of 1.00 and a Current Ratio set at 1.40.
Flowers Foods Inc. [FLO]: An earnings per share (EPS) analysis
The progress of the company may be observed through the prism of EPS growth rate, while Wall Street analysts are focusing on predicting the 5-year EPS growth rate for FLO. When it comes to the mentioned value, analysts are expecting to see the 5-year EPS growth rate for Flowers Foods Inc. go to 3.25%.
An analysis of insider ownership at Flowers Foods Inc. [FLO]
There are presently around $3,815 million, or 69.80% of FLO stock, in the hands of institutional investors. The top three institutional holders of FLO stocks are: VANGUARD GROUP INC with ownership of 19,913,247, which is approximately 2.189% of the company’s market cap and around 0.60% of the total institutional ownership; BLACKROCK INC., holding 18,854,729 shares of the stock with an approximate value of $507.38 million in FLO stocks shares; and PRICE T ROWE ASSOCIATES INC /MD/, currently with $442.88 million in FLO stock with ownership of nearly -3.078% of the company’s market capitalization.
Positions in Flowers Foods Inc. stocks held by institutional investors increased at the end of February and at the time of the February reporting period, where 196 institutional holders increased their position in Flowers Foods Inc. [NYSE:FLO] by around 8,014,123 shares. Additionally, 182 investors decreased positions by around 29,062,631 shares, while 64 investors held positions by with 104,674,403 shares. The mentioned changes placed institutional holdings at 141,751,157 shares, according to the latest SEC report filing. FLO stock had 56 new institutional investments in for a total of 1,922,635 shares, while 46 institutional investors sold positions of 2,688,881 shares during the same period.