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

Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 10,590,000 shares, a growth of 22.1% from the January 31st total of 8,670,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,820,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.8 days. Currently, 5.4% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on FLO. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Flowers Foods from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com lowered Flowers Foods from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, DA Davidson cut their target price on Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $21.00.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Flowers Foods

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of FLO. Wasatch Advisors LP purchased a new position in Flowers Foods during the 4th quarter worth approximately $58,476,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods in the 4th quarter valued at $42,591,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Flowers Foods by 28.2% in the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,381,444 shares of the company's stock worth $90,521,000 after purchasing an additional 965,097 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Flowers Foods by 33.7% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,475,242 shares of the company's stock worth $51,138,000 after buying an additional 623,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Flowers Foods during the fourth quarter valued at about $12,058,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.45% of the company's stock.

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Flowers Foods Price Performance

Shares of FLO stock traded up $0.21 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $19.61. 2,860,598 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,076,520. The company's 50 day moving average price is $19.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $21.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.20. The company has a market cap of $4.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.76, a PEG ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.41. Flowers Foods has a 12 month low of $17.99 and a 12 month high of $26.12.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.01. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 4.86%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.20 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Flowers Foods will post 1.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Flowers Foods's dividend payout ratio 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.