Short Interest in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Rises By 18.0%

Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) saw a significant growth in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 12,500,000 shares, a growth of 18.0% from the February 13th total of 10,590,000 shares. Approximately 6.4% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,950,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.4 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. DA Davidson reduced their target price 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. StockNews.com downgraded Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their target price on Flowers Foods from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of FLO. D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its stake in Flowers Foods by 4.4% in the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock valued at $273,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the period. ClearAlpha Technologies LP boosted its position in Flowers Foods by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. ClearAlpha Technologies LP now owns 14,013 shares of the company’s stock valued at $323,000 after purchasing an additional 590 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in Flowers Foods by 34.4% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,713 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 694 shares during the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance increased its position in Flowers Foods by 8.6% in the third quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 13,357 shares of the company’s stock worth $308,000 after buying an additional 1,063 shares during the period. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its stake in Flowers Foods by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 32,191 shares of the company’s stock valued at $665,000 after buying an additional 1,066 shares during the last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FLO opened at $18.16 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $19.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.08. Flowers Foods has a fifty-two week low of $17.98 and a fifty-two week high of $26.12. The firm has a market cap of $3.83 billion, a PE ratio of 15.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 in the previous year, the firm earned $0.20 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Flowers Foods will post 1.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.05%.

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.