Vera Bradley (NASDAQ:VRA) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Vera Bradley (NASDAQ:VRA) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday morning.

VRA has been the topic of several other research reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Vera Bradley in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research raised Vera Bradley from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Small Cap Consu raised Vera Bradley to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce”.

Vera Bradley Stock Performance

VRA stock opened at $2.20 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $61.47 million, a P/E ratio of -0.63 and a beta of 1.85. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $2.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $2.09. The company has a current ratio of 2.43, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Vera Bradley has a 12-month low of $1.71 and a 12-month high of $5.99.

Vera Bradley (NASDAQ:VRA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 11th. The textile maker reported ($0.02) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.15) by $0.13. Vera Bradley had a negative net margin of 32.31% and a negative return on equity of 15.27%. The firm had revenue of $70.86 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $78.52 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Vera Bradley will post -0.25 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Vera Bradley

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRA. Peapod Lane Capital LLC boosted its position in Vera Bradley by 87.6% during the 1st quarter. Peapod Lane Capital LLC now owns 870,156 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $1,958,000 after acquiring an additional 406,333 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in shares of Vera Bradley during the second quarter valued at about $363,000. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its holdings in Vera Bradley by 224.4% in the second quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 185,035 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $409,000 after purchasing an additional 127,994 shares during the period. RBF Capital LLC bought a new position in Vera Bradley in the 2nd quarter valued at about $221,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in Vera Bradley during the 2nd quarter valued at about $126,000. Institutional investors own 59.88% of the company’s stock.

Vera Bradley Company Profile

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.