Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Short Interest Up 8.0% in July

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

Flowers Foods Price Performance

Shares of Flowers Foods stock traded up $0.15 on Thursday, hitting $22.67. 9,083 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,220,047. Flowers Foods has a 12-month low of $19.64 and a 12-month high of $26.33. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $22.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $23.08. The company has a market cap of $4.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.42, a P/E/G ratio of 5.85 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last issued its quarterly 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). The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 18.35% and a net margin of 2.45%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.38 EPS. Analysts expect that Flowers Foods will post 1.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Increases Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of Flowers Foods

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of FLO. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Flowers Foods by 143.6% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 39,410 shares of the company’s stock valued at $887,000 after acquiring an additional 23,229 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Flowers Foods during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $244,000. Coston McIsaac & Partners boosted its holdings in Flowers Foods by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Coston McIsaac & Partners now owns 175,802 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,956,000 after acquiring an additional 7,022 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 168,079 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,778,000 after acquiring an additional 3,105 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp increased its holdings in shares of Flowers Foods by 37.0% during the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 4,583,334 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,171,000 after acquiring an additional 1,238,749 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FLO has been the topic of several research reports. DA Davidson lifted 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. BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Flowers Foods in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $20.00 price objective on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Flowers Foods from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Flowers Foods from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $23.20.

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.