Quartz Partners LLC Purchases Shares of 86,129 Virco Mfg. Co. (NASDAQ:VIRC)

Quartz Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Virco Mfg. Co. (NASDAQ:VIRC) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 86,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $883,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. IFP Advisors Inc bought a new stake in Virco Mfg. in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Virco Mfg. by 129.1% during the 3rd quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 6,231 shares of the company’s stock worth $86,000 after purchasing an additional 3,511 shares during the last quarter. Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. purchased a new stake in Virco Mfg. during the third quarter valued at approximately $90,000. Walleye Capital LLC purchased a new position in Virco Mfg. in the third quarter worth $140,000. Finally, Creative Planning purchased a new stake in Virco Mfg. in the third quarter valued at about $159,000. Institutional investors own 30.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on VIRC. 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. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Virco Mfg. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th.

Virco Mfg. Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VIRC opened at $10.62 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $172.99 million, a P/E ratio of 6.85 and a beta of 0.76. Virco Mfg. Co. has a twelve month low of $8.84 and a twelve month high of $18.50. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $10.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $13.44. The company has a current ratio of 2.88, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Virco Mfg. (NASDAQ:VIRC) last released its earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by ($0.35). Virco Mfg. had a return on equity of 24.63% and a net margin of 8.93%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.62 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Virco Mfg. Co. will post 1.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Virco Mfg. Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 20th were paid a dividend of $0.025 per share. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 20th. Virco Mfg.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.45%.

Virco Mfg. declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, January 21st that authorizes the company to repurchase $10.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 5.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.