Vera Bradley, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRA) Short Interest Update

Vera Bradley, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRA) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,430,000 shares, a growth of 39.4% from the August 15th total of 2,460,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 508,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.7 days. Currently, 15.9% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Institutional Trading of Vera Bradley

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRA. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new position in shares of Vera Bradley in the 2nd quarter valued at about $76,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Vera Bradley by 37.9% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 500,578 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $3,134,000 after buying an additional 137,552 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. bought a new position in Vera Bradley in the second quarter valued at approximately $81,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in Vera Bradley by 13.9% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 445,840 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $2,791,000 after acquiring an additional 54,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Vera Bradley by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,474,763 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $9,232,000 after acquiring an additional 64,624 shares during the period. 59.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Vera Bradley Price Performance

VRA opened at $4.89 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $144.20 million, a P/E ratio of 34.93 and a beta of 1.89. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $6.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $6.58. Vera Bradley has a one year low of $4.38 and a one year high of $8.35.

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