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

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on FLO. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Flowers Foods from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, DA Davidson cut their price target on shares of Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Flowers Foods

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new stake in Flowers Foods in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in Flowers Foods during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its holdings in Flowers Foods by 171.8% during the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 2,623 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 1,658 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 694 shares during the period. Finally, GeoWealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods during the 4th quarter worth $60,000. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

NYSE:FLO traded down $0.20 on Wednesday, hitting $18.42. The company had a trading volume of 569,200 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,336,301. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.75, a PEG ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $19.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $21.12. Flowers Foods has a 52 week low of $17.99 and a 52 week high of $26.12.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 7th. The company reported $0.22 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 prior year, the business posted $0.20 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Flowers Foods will post 1.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.21%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.05%.

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.