Vera Bradley, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRA) Short Interest Down 23.6% in March

Vera Bradley, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRA) saw a significant decrease in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 601,300 shares, a decrease of 23.6% from the March 15th total of 786,800 shares. Approximately 2.7% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 317,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.9 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vera Bradley

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Vera Bradley by 9.3% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 313,606 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $2,405,000 after buying an additional 26,735 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. acquired a new stake in Vera Bradley in the 1st quarter valued at about $80,000. Citigroup Inc. raised its holdings in Vera Bradley by 11.4% in the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 21,227 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $163,000 after acquiring an additional 2,170 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its holdings in Vera Bradley by 13.1% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 21,809 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $167,000 after acquiring an additional 2,524 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Vera Bradley by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,321,921 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $17,809,000 after acquiring an additional 51,122 shares during the last quarter. 59.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Vera Bradley Stock Down 2.6 %

Shares of VRA stock traded down $0.17 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $6.35. 229,954 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 297,361. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $7.10 and a 200 day moving average of $7.24. Vera Bradley has a 52-week low of $4.60 and a 52-week high of $8.35. The company has a market cap of $195.52 million, a PE ratio of 25.40 and a beta of 1.89.

Vera Bradley (NASDAQ:VRA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 13th. The textile maker reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.04). Vera Bradley had a return on equity of 6.69% and a net margin of 1.66%. The firm had revenue of $133.27 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $136.06 million. Equities analysts predict that Vera Bradley will post 0.63 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of Vera Bradley from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday.

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 consisting of rolling luggage, cosmetics, and travel and packing accessories, as well as travel bags comprising duffel and weekend bags.