Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) Short Interest Down 12.7% in March

Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 10,910,000 shares, a drop of 12.7% from the February 28th total of 12,500,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,200,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.0 days. Currently, 5.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FLO. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new position in Flowers Foods in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in Flowers Foods in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in Flowers Foods by 617.3% in the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 1,463 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its holdings in Flowers Foods by 171.8% during the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 2,623 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 1,658 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Flowers Foods by 34.4% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,713 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 694 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Flowers Foods Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of FLO stock opened at $18.93 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.18, a P/E/G ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.41. Flowers Foods has a 12-month low of $17.95 and a 12-month high of $26.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $18.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $20.79.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.01. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 4.86%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.20 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Flowers Foods will post 1.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.07%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.05%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on FLO. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Flowers Foods from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com lowered Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, DA Davidson cut their target price on Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.00.

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.