California Public Employees Retirement System Has $18.99 Million Stock Holdings in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

California Public Employees Retirement System increased its position in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 919,272 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 16,690 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.44% of Flowers Foods worth $18,992,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,737,981 shares of the company’s stock valued at $469,767,000 after buying an additional 518,745 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Flowers Foods by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,159,076 shares of the company’s stock valued at $95,971,000 after purchasing an additional 259,216 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Flowers Foods during the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,591,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,066,470 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,033,000 after purchasing an additional 67,750 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 886,349 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,312,000 after purchasing an additional 32,320 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Flowers Foods Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of Flowers Foods stock opened at $18.83 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.97 billion, a PE ratio of 16.09, a P/E/G ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.41. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 1 year low of $17.95 and a 1 year high of $26.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $18.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $20.73.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 4.86% and a return on equity of 19.48%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.20 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.18 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.05%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FLO has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com downgraded Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Truist Financial lowered their target price 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. Finally, DA Davidson cut their price target on shares of Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average 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.