Vera Bradley, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRA) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Vera Bradley, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRA) was the target of a large growth in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,040,000 shares, a growth of 17.8% from the August 31st total of 3,430,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 484,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 8.3 days. Approximately 19.5% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com cut Vera Bradley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, June 13th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vera Bradley

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Trexquant Investment LP boosted its position in Vera Bradley by 23.7% during the 4th quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 75,048 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $578,000 after acquiring an additional 14,359 shares in the last quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC boosted its holdings in Vera Bradley by 25.4% in the fourth quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC now owns 98,198 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $756,000 after acquiring an additional 19,890 shares in the last quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC purchased a new stake in Vera Bradley during the 4th quarter valued at about $94,000. Gate City Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Vera Bradley in the fourth quarter worth about $4,281,000. Finally, Fund 1 Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Vera Bradley by 93.6% in the fourth quarter. Fund 1 Investments LLC now owns 1,762,471 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $13,571,000 after buying an additional 852,330 shares in the last quarter. 59.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Vera Bradley Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of VRA stock opened at $5.53 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $5.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $6.43. The firm has a market cap of $163.07 million, a P/E ratio of 39.50 and a beta of 1.89. Vera Bradley has a 12-month low of $4.38 and a 12-month high of $8.35.

Vera Bradley (NASDAQ:VRA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, September 11th. The textile maker reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by ($0.18). Vera Bradley had a return on equity of 2.75% and a net margin of 0.19%. The business had revenue of $110.82 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $129.53 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.33 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Vera Bradley will post 0.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vera Bradley Company Profile

Vera Bradley, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and sells women's handbags, luggage and travel items, fashion and home accessories, and gifts. It operates through three segments: Vera Bradley Direct, Vera Bradley Indirect, and Pura Vida. The company offers bag products, such as totes, crossbodies, satchels, clutches, backpacks, baby bags, and lunch bags; accessories, including ID holders, lanyards, wallets, wristlets, eyewear, scarves, hair accessories, and various technology accessories; bracelets, rings, and necklaces under Pura Vida brand name; and travel products consist of rolling luggage, cosmetics, and travel and packing accessories, as well as travel bags comprising duffel and weekend bags.