Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO – Get Free Report) saw a large increase in short interest in June. As of June 30th, there was short interest totalling 2,740,000 shares, an increase of 24.5% from the June 15th total of 2,200,000 shares. Currently, 1.4% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,270,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.2 days.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Flowers Foods
A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FLO. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its holdings in Flowers Foods by 90.4% in the third quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 66,838 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,482,000 after purchasing an additional 31,732 shares during the last quarter. Signature Wealth Management Group purchased a new stake in Flowers Foods during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,439,000. Nordea Investment Management AB acquired a new position in Flowers Foods in the 4th quarter valued at about $5,018,000. Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning acquired a new position in Flowers Foods in the 4th quarter valued at about $348,000. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the 4th quarter worth approximately $212,000. Institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
FLO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. BNP Paribas began coverage on Flowers Foods in a research report on Wednesday. They set an “underperform” rating and a $20.00 target price for the company. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Flowers Foods from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Flowers Foods from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Flowers Foods currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $23.20.
Flowers Foods Price Performance
Shares of FLO stock traded down $0.17 on Friday, reaching $21.45. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 969,199 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,089,588. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. Flowers Foods has a 12-month low of $19.64 and a 12-month high of $26.33. The company has a market capitalization of $4.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.36, a PEG ratio of 5.53 and a beta of 0.36. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $23.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.11.
Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 16th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 2.45% and a return on equity of 18.35%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.38 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Flowers Foods will post 1.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Flowers Foods Increases Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 6th were issued a $0.24 dividend. This is a positive change from Flowers Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 6th. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is presently 162.71%.
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.