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

Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) saw a large decrease in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 8,670,000 shares, a decrease of 9.7% from the January 15th total of 9,600,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,830,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.7 days. Currently, 4.5% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Flowers Foods

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,159,076 shares of the company’s stock valued at $95,971,000 after buying an additional 259,216 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 642.6% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 113,637 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,348,000 after buying an additional 98,335 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its holdings in Flowers Foods by 85.0% during the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 72,886 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,681,000 after purchasing an additional 33,480 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in Flowers Foods by 2,156.0% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 136,354 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,817,000 after purchasing an additional 130,310 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB acquired a new stake in Flowers Foods during the 4th quarter valued at $4,461,000. 75.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

NYSE FLO opened at $18.53 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.70. Flowers Foods has a 52-week low of $18.34 and a 52-week high of $26.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.24. The stock has a market cap of $3.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.25, a PEG ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.38.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.01. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 19.41% and a net margin of 4.70%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.20 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Flowers Foods will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 5.18%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.