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

Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,820,000 shares, an increase of 9.8% from the September 30th total of 3,480,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,010,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.8 days. Currently, 2.0% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

Shares of Flowers Foods stock traded up $0.17 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $22.25. 529,017 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,148,815. Flowers Foods has a 1 year low of $19.64 and a 1 year high of $26.12. The company has a market capitalization of $4.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.29 and a beta of 0.36. The business has a fifty day moving average of $22.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $23.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last released its earnings results on Friday, August 16th. The company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.03. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 2.51% and a return on equity of 18.97%. The business had revenue of $1.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.24 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.33 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Flowers Foods will post 1.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.31%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is 162.71%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of Flowers Foods in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $20.00 price target for the company. One 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 MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.75.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Flowers Foods

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of FLO. Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 2.0% in the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 23,779 shares of the company’s stock valued at $528,000 after purchasing an additional 466 shares during the period. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 1.0% in the second quarter. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC now owns 52,779 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,172,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 2.9% in the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 21,728 shares of the company’s stock valued at $482,000 after purchasing an additional 603 shares during the period. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI grew its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 1.4% in the second quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI now owns 45,165 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,003,000 after purchasing an additional 625 shares during the period. Finally, Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 0.5% in the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 166,773 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,961,000 after purchasing an additional 809 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

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.