Hooker Furnishings Co. (NASDAQ:HOFT) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

Hooker Furnishings Co. (NASDAQ:HOFT) saw a large drop in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 161,400 shares, a drop of 7.3% from the October 15th total of 174,200 shares. Currently, 1.5% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 23,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.8 days.

Hooker Furnishings Trading Down 3.1 %

Shares of Hooker Furnishings stock opened at $17.83 on Monday. Hooker Furnishings has a 12-month low of $13.09 and a 12-month high of $27.15. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $17.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $16.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $190.96 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 137.16 and a beta of 1.19.

Hooker Furnishings (NASDAQ:HOFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 5th. The company reported ($0.19) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by ($0.06). Hooker Furnishings had a net margin of 0.40% and a return on equity of 0.72%. The firm had revenue of $95.08 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.54 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.07 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Hooker Furnishings will post -0.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hooker Furnishings Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.16%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Hooker Furnishings’s payout ratio is 707.75%.

Institutional Trading of Hooker Furnishings

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in HOFT. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Hooker Furnishings by 18.0% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 204,614 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,963,000 after acquiring an additional 31,261 shares during the period. Azarias Capital Management L.P. grew its position in Hooker Furnishings by 23.8% during the second quarter. Azarias Capital Management L.P. now owns 624,415 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,042,000 after buying an additional 120,219 shares during the period. Foundry Partners LLC increased its holdings in Hooker Furnishings by 95.1% in the second quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 70,605 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,022,000 after buying an additional 34,410 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Hooker Furnishings in the first quarter worth about $107,000. Finally, Acuitas Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Hooker Furnishings during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,180,000. 73.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hooker Furnishings Company Profile

Hooker Furnishings Corporation designs, manufactures, imports, and markets residential household, hospitality, and contract furniture. It operates in three segments: Hooker Branded, Home Meridian, and Domestic Upholstery. The Hooker Branded segment offers design categories, including home entertainment, home office, accent, dining, and bedroom furniture under the Hooker Furniture brand; and imported upholstered furniture under the Hooker Upholstery brand.