Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Short Interest Update

Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 5,430,000 shares, an increase 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 short-interest ratio is presently 4.7 days. Approximately 2.8% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Trading of Flowers Foods

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Flowers Foods during the third quarter worth $29,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 18,254.5% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,019 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 2,008 shares during the period. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $52,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods in the 2nd quarter valued at $59,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC grew its position in Flowers Foods by 329,400.0% in the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 3,295 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 3,294 shares during the last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Flowers Foods Trading Down 0.1 %

Flowers Foods stock traded down $0.02 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $21.19. The stock had a trading volume of 271,147 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,200,417. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Flowers Foods has a twelve month low of $20.95 and a twelve month high of $26.12. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $22.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $22.54. The firm has a market cap of $4.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.61, a PEG ratio of 4.04 and a beta of 0.37.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion during 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 quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.29 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Flowers Foods will post 1.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 84.21%.

About Flowers Foods

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.