State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Buys 1,243 Shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D increased its stake in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 86,130 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,243 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $1,987,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 10.8% in the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 247,530 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,879,000 after purchasing an additional 24,192 shares in the last quarter. AMG National Trust Bank bought a new stake in Flowers Foods in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $711,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Flowers Foods by 267.5% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 204,371 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,537,000 after buying an additional 148,753 shares in the last quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP bought a new position in Flowers Foods during the first quarter valued at approximately $581,000. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP raised its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 254.1% during the first quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP now owns 38,431 shares of the company’s stock worth $913,000 after acquiring an additional 27,577 shares in the last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of Flowers Foods from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th.

Flowers Foods Trading Down 1.2 %

NYSE FLO opened at $21.57 on Friday. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 1-year low of $20.50 and a 1-year high of $26.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $22.64 and a 200-day moving average of $22.90. The firm has a market cap of $4.54 billion, a PE ratio of 18.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.12 and a beta of 0.36.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 19.41% and a net margin of 4.70%. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.20 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.29 EPS. Flowers Foods’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.27 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 84.21%.

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.