Short Interest in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Increases By 8.0%

Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,960,000 shares, an increase of 8.0% from the June 30th total of 2,740,000 shares. Approximately 1.5% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,260,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.3 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Flowers Foods

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Flowers Foods during the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its position in Flowers Foods by 80.3% in the first quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,208 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 538 shares in the last quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in shares of Flowers Foods during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 2,247.7% in the first quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,526 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 1,461 shares during the period. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on FLO shares. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Flowers Foods from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Flowers Foods from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Flowers Foods in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $20.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Flowers Foods has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $23.20.

Flowers Foods Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE FLO traded up $0.15 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $22.67. 9,083 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,220,047. The business’s 50 day moving average is $22.45 and its 200-day moving average is $23.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.11. Flowers Foods has a 12-month low of $19.64 and a 12-month high of $26.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.85 and a beta of 0.36.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.02). Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 18.35% and a net margin of 2.45%. The company had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.38 earnings per share. Flowers Foods’s revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Flowers Foods will post 1.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 6th were issued a $0.24 dividend. This is a positive change from Flowers Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 6th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.23%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 162.71%.

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.