Haverty Furniture Companies (NYSE:HVT) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Haverty Furniture Companies (NYSE:HVT) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Sunday.

HVT has been the topic of several other research reports. Zacks Research downgraded Haverty Furniture Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Haverty Furniture Companies from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Haverty Furniture Companies currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce”.

Haverty Furniture Companies Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of Haverty Furniture Companies stock opened at $22.52 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $21.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $21.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $366.33 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.75, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.32. Haverty Furniture Companies has a 12-month low of $17.01 and a 12-month high of $24.91.

Haverty Furniture Companies (NYSE:HVT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of ($362.04) million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $183.12 million. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Haverty Furniture Companies will post 0.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Haverty Furniture Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.9%. This is a positive change from Haverty Furniture Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 25th. Haverty Furniture Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 112.28%.

Insider Transactions at Haverty Furniture Companies

In other Haverty Furniture Companies news, Director Rawson Haverty, Jr. sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.84, for a total value of $342,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 29,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $674,305.32. The trade was a 33.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold 40,000 shares of company stock valued at $918,900 over the last three months. Insiders own 8.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Haverty Furniture Companies

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HVT. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Haverty Furniture Companies by 7.9% in the 1st 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 during the period. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in Haverty Furniture Companies by 2.0% during the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 42,391 shares of the company’s stock valued at $863,000 after buying an additional 843 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in Haverty Furniture Companies by 1,929.3% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 1,447 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Haverty Furniture Companies in the second quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Haverty Furniture Companies by 8.9% during the 2nd quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 18,987 shares of the company’s stock worth $386,000 after acquiring an additional 1,556 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.