New York State Teachers Retirement System Buys 8,554 Shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 220,605 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,554 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $4,558,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in FLO. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 18,254.5% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,019 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 2,008 shares during the period. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the third quarter valued at about $52,000. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 171.8% during the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 2,623 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 1,658 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 104.2% during the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 3,049 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 1,556 shares during the period. Finally, Quest Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 329,400.0% in the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 3,295 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 3,294 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on FLO. DA Davidson lowered their price target on Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com downgraded Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Flowers Foods from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Flowers Foods presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.00.

Flowers Foods Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:FLO opened at $19.05 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.28, a P/E/G ratio of 8.39 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.33. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $19.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.63. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 52-week low of $17.99 and a 52-week high of $26.12.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 7th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.01. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 4.86%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.20 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is currently 82.05%.

Flowers Foods 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.