Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Shares Sold by Retirement Systems of Alabama

Retirement Systems of Alabama lowered its position in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 37.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 238,144 shares of the company’s stock after selling 144,774 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned about 0.11% of Flowers Foods worth $4,920,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its stake in Flowers Foods by 4.4% during the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock worth $273,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. ClearAlpha Technologies LP boosted its stake in Flowers Foods by 4.4% during the third quarter. ClearAlpha Technologies LP now owns 14,013 shares of the company’s stock worth $323,000 after buying an additional 590 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its stake in Flowers Foods by 8.6% during the third quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 13,357 shares of the company’s stock worth $308,000 after buying an additional 1,063 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its stake in Flowers Foods by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 32,191 shares of the company’s stock worth $665,000 after buying an additional 1,066 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its stake in Flowers Foods by 23.2% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 6,044 shares of the company’s stock worth $139,000 after buying an additional 1,140 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Flowers Foods Stock Down 3.3 %

Shares of NYSE:FLO opened at $18.47 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $20.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $21.87. The stock has a market cap of $3.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.38. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $18.40 and a fifty-two week high of $26.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 7th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.01. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 4.70% and a return on equity of 19.41%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.20 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.20%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 84.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on FLO. StockNews.com lowered shares of Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, DA Davidson lowered their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Flowers Foods currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.00.

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.