Haverty Furniture Companies, Inc. (NYSE:HVT) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

Haverty Furniture Companies, Inc. (NYSE:HVT) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,460,000 shares, a drop of 5.8% from the September 30th total of 1,550,000 shares. Currently, 10.9% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 296,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.9 days.

Haverty Furniture Companies Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE HVT opened at $21.96 on Friday. Haverty Furniture Companies has a 12-month low of $21.61 and a 12-month high of $37.05. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $27.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $360.36 million, a PE ratio of 13.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.45.

Haverty Furniture Companies (NYSE:HVT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $178.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $182.37 million. Haverty Furniture Companies had a return on equity of 8.69% and a net margin of 3.57%. On average, equities analysts predict that Haverty Furniture Companies will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Haverty Furniture Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 26th were paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 26th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.83%. Haverty Furniture Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.50%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Haverty Furniture Companies

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Haverty Furniture Companies by 179.2% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 9,506 shares of the company’s stock worth $324,000 after acquiring an additional 6,101 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its stake in Haverty Furniture Companies by 2,503.4% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 573,122 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,494,000 after acquiring an additional 551,108 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in Haverty Furniture Companies by 82.2% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 20,694 shares of the company’s stock worth $706,000 after acquiring an additional 9,335 shares during the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Haverty Furniture Companies during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,087,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Haverty Furniture Companies by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,105,487 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,719,000 after purchasing an additional 17,354 shares during the last quarter. 80.57% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com lowered Haverty Furniture Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th.

Haverty Furniture Companies Company Profile

Haverty Furniture Companies, Inc operates as a specialty retailer of residential furniture and accessories in the United States. The company offers furniture merchandise under the Havertys brand name. It also provides custom upholstery products and eclectic looks; and mattress product lines under the Tempur-Pedic, Serta, Sealy, and Stearns and Foster names.