New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 30,700 Shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

New York State Common Retirement Fund trimmed its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 7.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 371,498 shares of the company’s stock after selling 30,700 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $7,675,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Blue Trust Inc. raised 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 purchasing an additional 2,008 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in Flowers Foods in the third quarter valued at $200,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 42.3% in the third quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 81,209 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,885,000 after buying an additional 24,137 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 5.2% in the third quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 31,177 shares of the company’s stock valued at $719,000 after purchasing an additional 1,540 shares during the period. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Flowers Foods by 18.3% during the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 49,376 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,139,000 after purchasing an additional 7,655 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Flowers Foods Trading Down 2.0 %

NYSE FLO opened at $18.94 on Thursday. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a one year low of $17.99 and a one year high of $26.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.20. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $19.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.99 billion, a PE ratio of 16.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.38.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.20 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.07%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.05%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FLO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Flowers Foods from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One 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.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $21.00.

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.