Short Interest in Varex Imaging Co. (NASDAQ:VREX) Drops By 17.4%

Varex Imaging Co. (NASDAQ:VREX - Get Free Report) saw a significant decrease in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 966,300 shares, a decrease of 17.4% from the February 13th total of 1,170,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 511,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.9 days. Currently, 2.5% of the company's stock are short sold.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Kimberley E. Honeysett sold 4,007 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.81, for a total value of $51,329.67. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,002 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,265.62. This trade represents a 50.03 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 4.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Varex Imaging

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Varex Imaging in the third quarter worth about $19,801,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Varex Imaging by 51.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 3,890,879 shares of the company's stock valued at $46,379,000 after purchasing an additional 1,321,666 shares during the period. Wealthfront Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Varex Imaging during the fourth quarter worth $18,900,000. Boston Partners acquired a new stake in Varex Imaging during the fourth quarter valued at $8,718,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in Varex Imaging by 510.7% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 471,612 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,881,000 after buying an additional 394,381 shares in the last quarter.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

VREX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of Varex Imaging from $30.00 to $23.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. B. Riley reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $22.00 price objective (up previously from $21.00) on shares of Varex Imaging in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Varex Imaging from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th.

Varex Imaging Stock Performance

Varex Imaging stock traded down $0.29 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $12.57. 397,419 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 526,939. The firm's fifty day moving average is $13.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $13.41. The company has a market capitalization of $517.88 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.74 and a beta of 0.56. Varex Imaging has a fifty-two week low of $10.19 and a fifty-two week high of $18.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 4.36 and a quick ratio of 2.50.

Varex Imaging (NASDAQ:VREX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Varex Imaging will post 0.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Varex Imaging Company Profile

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.