Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Shares Sold by Teacher Retirement System of Texas

Teacher Retirement System of Texas trimmed its stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Free Report) by 28.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 124,865 shares of the company's stock after selling 49,191 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas owned 0.06% of Flowers Foods worth $2,374,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Flowers Foods by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,737,981 shares of the company's stock worth $469,767,000 after buying an additional 518,745 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Flowers Foods by 28.2% during the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,381,444 shares of the company's stock worth $90,521,000 after buying an additional 965,097 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Flowers Foods by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,299,631 shares of the company's stock worth $88,829,000 after buying an additional 428,963 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Flowers Foods by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,219,943 shares of the company's stock worth $87,205,000 after buying an additional 60,867 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP purchased a new position in Flowers Foods during the 4th quarter worth $58,476,000. 75.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Flowers Foods from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Flowers Foods from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Flowers Foods news, Director William Jameson Mcfadden purchased 3,000 shares of Flowers Foods stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was bought at an average price of $16.92 per share, with a total value of $50,760.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 532,476 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,009,493.92. This trade represents a 0.57% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director George E. Deese purchased 6,000 shares of Flowers Foods stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $16.84 per share, with a total value of $101,040.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 2,004,990 shares in the company, valued at $33,764,031.60. This trade represents a 0.30% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders acquired 12,000 shares of company stock valued at $202,440. 11.57% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

Shares of FLO traded down $0.21 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $15.63. The company had a trading volume of 1,246,252 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,834,400. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 52-week low of $15.46 and a 52-week high of $23.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.44 and a beta of 0.33. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $16.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $18.16.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, May 16th. The company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.38 by ($0.03). Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 18.91% and a net margin of 4.49%. The company had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.60 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.38 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowers Foods Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 19th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 5th were issued a $0.2475 dividend. This is a boost from Flowers Foods's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.34%. Flowers Foods's dividend payout ratio is presently 91.67%.

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.