National Vision Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:EYE) Short Interest Up 13.4% in December

National Vision Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:EYE) was the target of a large growth in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,720,000 shares, a growth of 13.4% from the December 15th total of 3,280,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,350,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.8 days. Currently, 4.8% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Institutional Trading of National Vision

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EYE. KBC Group NV raised its position in National Vision by 64.6% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,291 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 1,292 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of National Vision during the 3rd quarter valued at about $43,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in National Vision in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $45,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in National Vision by 309.2% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,906 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 3,707 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC grew its position in National Vision by 197.7% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 8,089 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,000 after acquiring an additional 5,372 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on National Vision from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th.

National Vision Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of EYE stock opened at $10.80 on Friday. National Vision has a 52-week low of $9.56 and a 52-week high of $24.11. The business’s fifty day moving average is $11.21 and its 200 day moving average is $11.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.57. The company has a market capitalization of $850.50 million, a PE ratio of -54.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.42.

National Vision (NASDAQ:EYE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.06 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $451.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $451.13 million. National Vision had a positive return on equity of 3.52% and a negative net margin of 0.81%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.09 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that National Vision will post 0.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

National Vision Company Profile

National Vision Holdings, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates as an optical retailer in the United States. The company operates in two segments, Owned & Host and Legacy. It offers eyeglasses and contact lenses, and optical accessory products; provides eye exams through its America’s Best, Eyeglass World, Vista Optical, Fred Meyer, and Vista Optical military, as well as Vision Center branded stores; and offers health maintenance organization and optometric services.