State of Alaska Department of Revenue Raises Stock Holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 31,177 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,540 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $719,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Flowers Foods in the 1st quarter valued at about $2,224,000. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System raised its holdings in Flowers Foods by 10.8% in the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 247,530 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,879,000 after buying an additional 24,192 shares during the period. AMG National Trust Bank purchased a new stake in Flowers Foods in the 2nd quarter valued at about $711,000. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Flowers Foods in the 1st quarter valued at about $4,644,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Flowers Foods by 267.5% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 204,371 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,537,000 after buying an additional 148,753 shares during the period. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FLO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of Flowers Foods in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $20.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.75.

Flowers Foods Stock Up 0.4 %

FLO stock opened at $22.49 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $22.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $23.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.19. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $19.64 and a fifty-two week high of $26.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.87, a PEG ratio of 4.32 and a beta of 0.36.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 16th. The company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.24 billion. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 18.97% and a net margin of 2.51%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.33 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is currently 157.38%.

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.