Retirement Systems of Alabama Boosts Stock Position in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 0.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 382,918 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 772 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned approximately 0.18% of Flowers Foods worth $8,834,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James & Associates increased its holdings in Flowers Foods by 39.0% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 75,289 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,671,000 after buying an additional 21,118 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 69.6% in the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 5,489 shares of the company’s stock worth $122,000 after purchasing an additional 2,252 shares during the period. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $251,000. AMG National Trust Bank purchased a new position in Flowers Foods in the second quarter valued at approximately $711,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in Flowers Foods by 1.7% during 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 purchasing an additional 18,852 shares during the period. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Flowers Foods Price Performance

FLO opened at $20.92 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $22.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $22.53. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a twelve month low of $20.68 and a twelve month 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. The company has a market capitalization of $4.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.35, a PEG ratio of 4.04 and a beta of 0.37.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.03. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 4.70% and a return on equity of 19.41%. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.20 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.29 EPS. Flowers Foods’s revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.27 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.59%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is presently 84.21%.

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.