Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Has $1.70 Million Stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lessened its stake in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 8.8% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 73,682 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,094 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $1,700,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of FLO. AMG National Trust Bank acquired a new position in shares of Flowers Foods during the second quarter valued at about $711,000. Thomasville National Bank increased its position in Flowers Foods by 30.2% in the 3rd quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 429,014 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,897,000 after buying an additional 99,599 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in Flowers Foods by 94.7% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 180,227 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,158,000 after buying an additional 87,654 shares during the period. Martingale Asset Management L P acquired a new stake in Flowers Foods in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,571,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in Flowers Foods by 1.7% in the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,147,242 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,469,000 after acquiring an additional 18,852 shares during the period. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Flowers Foods Trading Down 0.8 %

FLO opened at $20.75 on Thursday. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $20.59 and a fifty-two week high of $26.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.37 billion, a PE ratio of 18.20, a P/E/G ratio of 4.04 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company’s 50-day moving average is $22.16 and its 200 day moving average is $22.50.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 19.41% and a net margin of 4.70%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.29 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.63%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 84.21%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com raised Flowers Foods from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th.

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.