Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Short Interest Up 16.9% in November

Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,570,000 shares, an increase of 16.9% from the October 31st total of 3,910,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,120,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.1 days. Approximately 2.3% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Flowers Foods Trading Down 1.4 %

FLO traded down $0.32 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $22.52. 1,161,854 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,191,258. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $22.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $22.65. Flowers Foods has a 52-week low of $21.20 and a 52-week high of $26.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.74 billion, a PE ratio of 19.78, a PEG ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 0.37.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last issued its earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.20 billion. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 19.41% and a net margin of 4.70%. Flowers Foods’s revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.29 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Flowers Foods will post 1.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is 84.21%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FLO. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Flowers Foods during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in Flowers Foods by 18,254.5% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,019 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 2,008 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Flowers Foods during the 3rd quarter valued at about $52,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Flowers Foods during the 2nd quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in Flowers Foods by 7,694.7% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,962 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 2,924 shares during the last quarter. 75.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com cut Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th.

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.