Varex Imaging Co. (NASDAQ:VREX) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Varex Imaging Co. (NASDAQ:VREX) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,170,000 shares, an increase of 37.2% from the January 31st total of 853,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 590,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.0 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Varex Imaging

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VREX. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Varex Imaging by 4,739.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 200,341 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,388,000 after acquiring an additional 196,201 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of Varex Imaging by 15.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 97,883 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,166,000 after purchasing an additional 12,966 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Varex Imaging during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $415,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in shares of Varex Imaging by 1,359.9% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 52,295 shares of the company’s stock valued at $623,000 after purchasing an additional 48,713 shares during the period. Finally, Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in Varex Imaging during the third quarter worth $2,593,000.

Varex Imaging Stock Performance

Shares of VREX opened at $12.84 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 2.50 and a current ratio of 4.36. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $13.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $13.39. The stock has a market cap of $529.01 million, a P/E ratio of -10.97 and a beta of 0.62. Varex Imaging has a one year low of $10.19 and a one year high of $18.30.

Varex Imaging (NASDAQ:VREX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.07 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.04 by $0.03. Varex Imaging had a positive return on equity of 4.00% and a negative net margin of 5.79%. As a group, research analysts predict that Varex Imaging will post 0.53 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on VREX shares. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on Varex Imaging from $30.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. B. Riley reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $22.00 price target (up previously from $21.00) on shares of Varex Imaging in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Varex Imaging from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th.

About Varex Imaging

Varex Imaging Corporation designs, manufactures, and sells X-ray imaging components. The company operates through two segments, Medical and Industrial. The Medical segment designs, manufactures, sells, and services X-ray imaging components, comprising X-ray tubes, digital detectors and accessories, ionization chambers, high voltage connectors, image-processing software and workstations, 3D reconstruction software, computer-aided diagnostic software, collimators, automatic exposure control devices, generators, and heat exchangers.