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

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Flowers Foods

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Flowers Foods by 18,254.5% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,019 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 2,008 shares during the period. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in Flowers Foods during the third quarter worth about $52,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in Flowers Foods during the second quarter worth about $59,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in Flowers Foods by 7,694.7% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,962 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 2,924 shares during the period. 75.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Flowers Foods Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE FLO traded down $0.30 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $22.54. The company had a trading volume of 359,100 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,187,726. Flowers Foods has a twelve month low of $21.20 and a twelve month high of $26.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.75 billion, a PE ratio of 20.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 0.37. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $22.44 and its 200-day moving average is $22.65.

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

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com lowered 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.