Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Short Interest Up 28.5% in January

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

Flowers Foods Price Performance

Shares of FLO stock traded up $0.03 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $19.39. 899,551 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,962,964. The stock's 50-day moving average is $20.57 and its 200-day moving average is $21.93. 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 stock has a market cap of $4.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.38. Flowers Foods has a 52 week low of $18.90 and a 52 week high of $26.12.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.20 billion. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 19.41% and a net margin of 4.70%. The business'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. As a group, research analysts forecast that Flowers Foods will post 1.27 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. Flowers Foods's dividend payout ratio is 84.21%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com lowered Flowers Foods from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, December 20th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Flowers Foods

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in Flowers Foods by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 35,334 shares of the company's stock worth $730,000 after buying an additional 1,465 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Flowers Foods by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 886,349 shares of the company's stock worth $18,312,000 after buying an additional 32,320 shares during the last quarter. Argyle Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Flowers Foods by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Argyle Capital Management LLC now owns 67,118 shares of the company's stock worth $1,387,000 after buying an additional 4,100 shares during the last quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Flowers Foods by 23.8% during the fourth quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 33,106 shares of the company's stock worth $684,000 after buying an additional 6,371 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Flowers Foods during the fourth quarter worth about $330,000. Institutional investors own 75.45% of the company's stock.

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.