Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Takes $467,000 Position in National Vision Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:EYE)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC acquired a new stake in shares of National Vision Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:EYE) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 36,574 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $467,000.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its holdings in shares of National Vision by 87.5% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 7,050 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 3,291 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in National Vision by 49.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,318 shares of the company’s stock worth $94,000 after acquiring an additional 2,412 shares during the period. Guggenheim Capital LLC bought a new stake in National Vision in the fourth quarter worth about $150,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in National Vision in the 4th quarter valued at about $176,000. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in National Vision in the 4th quarter valued at about $178,000.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on EYE shares. Loop Capital lifted their price objective on shares of National Vision from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Citigroup upgraded shares of National Vision from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $13.00 to $21.00 in a report on Friday, May 9th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of National Vision from $14.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Bank of America increased their price objective on National Vision from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets set a $19.00 price objective on National Vision and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, National Vision has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $18.67.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Ravi Acharya sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.75, for a total transaction of $225,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 11,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,375. The trade was a 50.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

National Vision Trading Down 1.1%

National Vision stock opened at $23.90 on Friday. National Vision Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $9.56 and a 52 week high of $24.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -72.41, a P/E/G ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $19.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $14.34.

National Vision (NASDAQ:EYE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.02. National Vision had a positive return on equity of 3.44% and a negative net margin of 1.40%. The firm had revenue of $510.32 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $510.30 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.32 earnings per share. National Vision’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that National Vision Holdings, Inc. will post 0.31 EPS for the current year.

National Vision Company Profile

National Vision Holdings, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates as an optical retailer in the United States. The company operates in two segments, Owned & Host and Legacy. It offers eyeglasses and contact lenses, and optical accessory products; provides eye exams through its America’s Best, Eyeglass World, Vista Optical, Fred Meyer, and Vista Optical military, as well as Vision Center branded stores; and offers health maintenance organization and optometric services.