Virco Mfg. Co. (NASDAQ:VIRC) Short Interest Up 82.0% in July

Virco Mfg. Co. (NASDAQ:VIRC) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,030,000 shares, an increase of 82.0% from the June 30th total of 565,800 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 251,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.1 days. Currently, 7.7% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Virco Mfg.

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Virco Mfg. by 78.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 477,218 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,216,000 after buying an additional 209,366 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Virco Mfg. by 47.1% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 260,364 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,843,000 after purchasing an additional 83,405 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Virco Mfg. by 124.7% during the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 124,642 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,362,000 after purchasing an additional 69,179 shares during the period. Ancora Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Virco Mfg. during the first quarter worth approximately $917,000. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Virco Mfg. during the first quarter worth approximately $675,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 30.97% of the company’s stock.

Virco Mfg. Price Performance

Virco Mfg. stock traded up $0.56 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $16.92. 60,120 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 222,690. The firm has a market cap of $274.27 million, a P/E ratio of 10.49 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 2.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $14.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $12.06. Virco Mfg. has a 1-year low of $4.33 and a 1-year high of $17.83.

Virco Mfg. (NASDAQ:VIRC) last released its earnings results on Friday, June 7th. The company reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $46.74 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $37.70 million. Virco Mfg. had a net margin of 9.07% and a return on equity of 28.41%. As a group, analysts forecast that Virco Mfg. will post 1.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Virco Mfg. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 21st were paid a $0.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 21st. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Virco Mfg.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 5.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Virco Mfg. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $19.00 price objective (up previously from $16.00) on shares of Virco Mfg. in a report on Friday, June 7th.

Virco Mfg. Company Profile

Virco Mfg. Corporation engages in the design, production, and distribution of furniture in the United States and Canada. The company offers seating products, including 4-leg chairs, cantilever chairs, mobile task chairs and lab stools, tablet armchairs, steel-frame and floor rockers, series stools, hard plastic seating, folding and upholstered stack chairs, and plastic stack and upholstered ergonomic chairs.