Hedge Funds Are Buying Flowers Foods, Inc. (FLO)

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As aggregate interest increased, specific money managers have been driving this bullishness. Millennium Management, managed by Israel Englander, assembled the most outsized position in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO). As reported in its latest 13F filing, the fund had $10 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Clifford Fox’s Columbus Circle Investors also initiated a $5.4 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Mariko Gordon’s Daruma Asset Management, George Hall’s Clinton Group, and Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO). These stocks are Anacor Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ANAC), Teleflex Incorporated (NYSE:TFX), Avery Dennison Corp (NYSE:AVY), and EnLink Midstream Partners LP (NYSE:ENLK). All of these stocks’ market caps are similar to FLO’s market cap.

Ticker No of HFs with positions Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) Change in HF Position
ANAC 36 1499557 2
TFX 21 547458 4
AVY 19 206152 2
ENLK 6 132215 -2

As you can see these stocks had an average of 21 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $596 million. That figure was $222 million in FLO’s case, a disappointing number. Anacor Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ANAC) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand EnLink Midstream Partners LP (NYSE:ENLK) is the least popular one with only 6 bullish hedge fund positions. Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) is not the least popular stock in this group, but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard ANAC might be a better candidate to consider a long position.

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