Haverty Furniture Companies (NYSE:HVT) Upgraded to Hold at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Haverty Furniture Companies (NYSE:HVT) from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

HVT has been the topic of several other reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Haverty Furniture Companies from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday, November 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Haverty Furniture Companies in a research report on Tuesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to MarketBeat, Haverty Furniture Companies has an average rating of “Hold”.

Haverty Furniture Companies Price Performance

Haverty Furniture Companies stock opened at $24.19 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $393.42 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.22, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.32. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $21.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.56. Haverty Furniture Companies has a fifty-two week low of $17.01 and a fifty-two week high of $24.46.

Haverty Furniture Companies (NYSE:HVT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.04. Haverty Furniture Companies had a net margin of 2.62% and a return on equity of 6.34%. The company had revenue of $194.48 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $183.12 million. As a group, analysts predict that Haverty Furniture Companies will post 0.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Haverty Furniture Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 25th will be given a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 25th. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.5%. This is a boost from Haverty Furniture Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Haverty Furniture Companies’s payout ratio is 115.79%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Rawson Haverty, Jr. sold 14,997 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.02, for a total transaction of $345,230.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 14,526 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $334,388.52. This trade represents a 50.80% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders sold 29,523 shares of company stock worth $677,706. Corporate insiders own 8.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in Haverty Furniture Companies by 1,929.3% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,522 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 1,447 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Haverty Furniture Companies in the second quarter valued at about $31,000. State of Wyoming bought a new stake in Haverty Furniture Companies during the second quarter worth about $58,000. CWM LLC boosted its position in Haverty Furniture Companies by 163.0% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,645 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,000 after purchasing an additional 2,879 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in Haverty Furniture Companies by 7.9% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 8,898 shares of the company’s stock valued at $175,000 after purchasing an additional 651 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.57% of the company’s stock.

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.