Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 12,500,000 shares, a growth 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 days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.4 days.

Institutional Trading of Flowers Foods

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

Flowers Foods Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FLO traded up $0.05 on Friday, reaching $18.21. 16,492,805 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,388,497. The company has a 50-day moving average of $19.06 and a 200-day moving average of $21.03. 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 market cap of $3.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.41. Flowers Foods has a 1-year low of $17.99 and a 1-year high of $26.12.

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Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO - Get Free Report) last posted 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 period last year, the business earned $0.20 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Flowers Foods will post 1.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.27%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Flowers Foods's payout ratio is 82.05%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on FLO shares. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of 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 cut shares of Flowers Foods from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, DA Davidson lowered their price objective on Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. One investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $21.00.

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.