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

Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) was the target of a large increase in short interest during 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 presently 4.1 days. Approximately 2.3% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Signaturefd LLC grew its position in Flowers Foods by 2.0% in the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 23,779 shares of the company’s stock worth $528,000 after acquiring an additional 466 shares during the period. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC grew its position in Flowers Foods by 1.0% in the second quarter. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC now owns 52,779 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,172,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its position in Flowers Foods by 4.4% in the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock worth $273,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the period. ClearAlpha Technologies LP grew its position in Flowers Foods by 4.4% in the third quarter. ClearAlpha Technologies LP now owns 14,013 shares of the company’s stock worth $323,000 after acquiring an additional 590 shares during the period. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its position in Flowers Foods by 2.9% in the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 21,728 shares of the company’s stock worth $482,000 after acquiring an additional 603 shares during the period. 75.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Flowers Foods Price Performance

Shares of Flowers Foods stock traded down $0.32 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $22.52. 1,161,854 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,191,258. The business has a 50-day moving average of $22.44 and a 200 day moving average of $22.65. Flowers Foods has a fifty-two week low of $21.20 and a fifty-two week high of $26.12. The stock 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. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last announced its earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.03. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 19.41% and a net margin of 4.70%. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.20 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.29 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Flowers Foods will post 1.27 EPS for the current year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

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