Short Interest in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Grows By 18.8%

Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 5,430,000 shares, a growth of 18.8% from the November 15th total of 4,570,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,150,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.7 days. Currently, 2.8% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Institutional Trading of Flowers Foods

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Flowers Foods by 21.6% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 135,572 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,080,000 after buying an additional 24,085 shares during the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 144.5% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 40,422 shares of the company’s stock valued at $933,000 after purchasing an additional 23,890 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC grew its position in Flowers Foods by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 27,266 shares of the company’s stock worth $629,000 after purchasing an additional 1,261 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 88.6% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 287,625 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,636,000 after buying an additional 135,111 shares during the period. 75.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

Shares of Flowers Foods stock traded down $0.02 on Friday, hitting $21.21. 2,068,197 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,204,649. Flowers Foods has a 52 week low of $20.95 and a 52 week high of $26.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.24. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.04 and a beta of 0.37.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.20 billion. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 4.70% and a return on equity of 19.41%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.29 EPS. Research analysts expect that Flowers Foods will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is currently 84.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Flowers Foods from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday.

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.