Equities researchers at StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Hostess Brands (NASDAQ:TWNK – Get Free Report) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday. The brokerage set a “sell” rating on the stock.

TWNK has been the subject of several other research reports. Consumer Edge downgraded shares of Hostess Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 12th. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $34.00 price objective (up from $32.00) on shares of Hostess Brands in a research report on Monday, October 16th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Hostess Brands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the company from $30.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 14th. Stephens lowered Hostess Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 12th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered Hostess Brands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $34.25 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, September 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Hostess Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $29.58.

Get Our Latest Stock Report on TWNK

Hostess Brands Trading Down 0.1 %

TWNK opened at $33.30 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $33.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.42 billion, a PE ratio of 35.81, a P/E/G ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.53. Hostess Brands has a 12-month low of $21.59 and a 12-month high of $33.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.83 and a quick ratio of 1.47.

Hostess Brands (NASDAQ:TWNK – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 7th. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $352.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $366.09 million. Hostess Brands had a return on equity of 7.74% and a net margin of 9.10%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.23 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Hostess Brands will post 1.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hostess Brands

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in Hostess Brands by 103.5% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 24,077,759 shares of the company’s stock worth $528,266,000 after purchasing an additional 12,247,765 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Hostess Brands by 0.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,997,837 shares of the company’s stock valued at $371,790,000 after buying an additional 96,984 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Hostess Brands by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,173,495 shares of the company’s stock worth $228,234,000 after acquiring an additional 49,810 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Hostess Brands by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,004,593 shares of the company’s stock worth $106,147,000 after acquiring an additional 55,673 shares during the period. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in Hostess Brands by 33.0% during the 1st quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 4,108,145 shares of the company’s stock valued at $102,211,000 after acquiring an additional 1,019,345 shares in the last quarter.

About Hostess Brands (Get Free Report)

Hostess Brands, Inc develops, manufactures, markets, sells, and distributes snack products in the United States and Canada. The company provides a range of snack cakes, donuts, sweet rolls, breakfast pastries, cookies, snack pies, sweet baked goods, wafers, bread and buns, danishes, honey buns, coffee cakes, and sugar-free products.

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Original: MarketBeat News Feed: StockNews.com Initiates Coverage on Hostess Brands (NASDAQ:TWNK)