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

Vera Bradley, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRA) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 3,120,000 shares, a decrease of 22.8% from the September 15th total of 4,040,000 shares. Currently, 15.1% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 464,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.7 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vera Bradley

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Marquette Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Vera Bradley by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 44,406 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $242,000 after buying an additional 4,824 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new stake in Vera Bradley during the second quarter worth about $76,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 137,552 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. acquired a new position in shares of Vera Bradley during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $81,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in shares of Vera Bradley by 13.9% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 445,840 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $2,791,000 after purchasing an additional 54,300 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.88% of the company’s stock.

Vera Bradley Price Performance

Shares of Vera Bradley stock traded down $0.02 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $5.56. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 40,911 shares, compared to its average volume of 380,387. The company has a market capitalization of $163.95 million, a PE ratio of 39.86 and a beta of 1.88. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $5.50 and a 200 day moving average of $6.34. Vera Bradley has a 12 month low of $4.38 and a 12 month high of $8.35.

Vera Bradley (NASDAQ:VRA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, September 11th. The textile maker reported $0.13 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $110.82 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $129.53 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.33 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Vera Bradley will post 0.1 EPS for the current year.

About Vera Bradley

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.