JPMorgan Chase & Co. Purchases 25,269 Shares of Virco Mfg. Co. (NASDAQ:VIRC)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Virco Mfg. Co. (NASDAQ:VIRC) by 510.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 30,221 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 25,269 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned about 0.19% of Virco Mfg. worth $417,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VIRC. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Virco Mfg. by 129.1% during the third quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 6,231 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,000 after acquiring an additional 3,511 shares during the last quarter. Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Virco Mfg. during the 3rd quarter valued at $90,000. Walleye Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Virco Mfg. during the 3rd quarter worth $140,000. Creative Planning purchased a new position in shares of Virco Mfg. in the 3rd quarter worth about $159,000. Finally, Algert Global LLC grew its position in Virco Mfg. by 17.2% during the second quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 12,158 shares of the company’s stock valued at $169,000 after buying an additional 1,785 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 30.97% of the company’s stock.

Virco Mfg. Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of VIRC opened at $10.95 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $178.38 million, a P/E ratio of 7.06 and a beta of 0.77. Virco Mfg. Co. has a fifty-two week low of $8.75 and a fifty-two week high of $18.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a current ratio of 2.88. The business has a 50-day moving average of $12.03 and a 200 day moving average of $14.05.

Virco Mfg. (NASDAQ:VIRC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.87 by ($0.35). Virco Mfg. had a net margin of 8.93% and a return on equity of 24.63%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.62 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Virco Mfg. Co. will post 1.54 EPS for the current year.

Virco Mfg. Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 20th were issued a $0.025 dividend. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 20th. Virco Mfg.’s payout ratio is currently 6.45%.

Virco Mfg. declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, January 21st that permits the company to repurchase $10.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 5.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VIRC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Virco Mfg. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $17.00 price objective (down previously from $20.00) on shares of Virco Mfg. in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th.

About Virco Mfg.

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.