Short Interest in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Increases By 28.5%

Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) was the target of a large growth in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,600,000 shares, a growth of 28.5% from the December 31st total of 7,470,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,620,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.9 days. Currently, 4.9% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th.

Flowers Foods Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE FLO traded down $0.02 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $19.53. 1,619,146 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,985,483. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $20.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.97. Flowers Foods has a 1-year low of $18.90 and a 1-year high of $26.12. The firm has a market cap of $4.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.13, a PEG ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.29 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Flowers Foods will post 1.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 84.21%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Flowers Foods

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FLO. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Flowers Foods by 6.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,159,076 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,971,000 after buying an additional 259,216 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Flowers Foods by 3.0% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,008,103 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,327,000 after acquiring an additional 58,141 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp lifted its position in Flowers Foods by 3.0% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 1,265,092 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,085,000 after purchasing an additional 36,281 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 1.5% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 854,029 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,702,000 after purchasing an additional 12,481 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in Flowers Foods by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 738,570 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,396,000 after purchasing an additional 38,369 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

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.