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

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Flowers Foods

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 141,686 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,145,000 after buying an additional 7,929 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods in the 2nd quarter worth about $453,000. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in Flowers Foods by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 738,570 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,396,000 after acquiring an additional 38,369 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 7.8% during the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 32,341 shares of the company’s stock valued at $718,000 after acquiring an additional 2,336 shares during the period. Finally, Truist Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 3.0% during the 2nd 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Flowers Foods Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of FLO stock traded down $0.02 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $19.53. 1,619,146 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,985,483. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The business’s fifty day moving average is $20.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.38. Flowers Foods has a 12-month low of $18.90 and a 12-month high of $26.12.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last announced its 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 firm had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.20 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.29 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Flowers Foods will post 1.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

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