Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Stock Holdings Lifted by California State Teachers Retirement System

California State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) by 9.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 209,254 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 18,648 shares during the quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 0.10% of Flowers Foods worth $4,323,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 88.6% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 287,625 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,636,000 after purchasing an additional 135,111 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 69.8% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,428 shares of the company's stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 1,409 shares during the period. Choreo LLC raised its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 120.5% in the 4th quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 25,026 shares of the company's stock valued at $514,000 after acquiring an additional 13,678 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Flowers Foods during the 4th quarter worth $245,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in Flowers Foods by 90.7% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 135,928 shares of the company's stock worth $2,808,000 after buying an additional 64,650 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.45% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Flowers Foods

In related news, Director George E. Deese purchased 6,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $16.84 per share, for a total transaction of $101,040.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 2,004,990 shares of the company's stock, valued at $33,764,031.60. This represents a 0.30% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director William Jameson Mcfadden purchased 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were bought at an average price of $16.92 per share, for a total transaction of $50,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 532,476 shares in the company, valued at $9,009,493.92. This represents a 0.57% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought 12,000 shares of company stock valued at $202,440 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.57% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on FLO shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Flowers Foods from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. DA Davidson dropped their price target on shares of Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Flowers Foods from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $19.25.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE FLO traded up $0.26 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $16.72. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,201,056 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,695,950. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.29 and a 1-year high of $23.87. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $17.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $19.08. 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 firm has a market cap of $3.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.29, a P/E/G ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.34.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 16th. The company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.60 billion. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 4.86% and a return on equity of 19.48%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 19th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.2475 per share. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.92%. This is a positive change from Flowers Foods's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 5th. Flowers Foods's payout ratio is presently 91.67%.

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.