iRobot Co. (NASDAQ:IRBT) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

iRobot Co. (NASDAQ:IRBT) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,340,000 shares, a growth of 11.7% from the December 15th total of 2,990,000 shares. Currently, 11.7% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,310,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.5 days.

Institutional Trading of iRobot

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in IRBT. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in iRobot during the third quarter worth approximately $39,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of iRobot by 72.6% in the 2nd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 7,550 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 3,175 shares in the last quarter. Olympiad Research LP acquired a new stake in shares of iRobot in the third quarter valued at $89,000. Quest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of iRobot by 39.8% in the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 11,546 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $100,000 after buying an additional 3,285 shares during the period. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in iRobot by 96.6% during the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 12,147 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $106,000 after buying an additional 5,970 shares in the last quarter. 77.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

IRBT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of iRobot in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of iRobot from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday.

iRobot Stock Performance

Shares of IRBT stock opened at $8.85 on Monday. iRobot has a 12-month low of $5.83 and a 12-month high of $28.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $270.45 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.92 and a beta of 0.80. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $8.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $8.43.

iRobot (NASDAQ:IRBT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.06) by $0.09. The company had revenue of $193.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $218.41 million. iRobot had a negative return on equity of 100.79% and a negative net margin of 16.15%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned ($3.09) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that iRobot will post -5.74 EPS for the current year.

iRobot Company Profile

iRobot Corporation designs, builds, and sells robots and home innovation products in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Japan, and internationally. The company offers floor care products, including Roomba floor vacuuming robots; Roomba accessories and consumables, such as the Clean Base Automatic Dirt Disposal, replacement dirt disposal bags for the Clean Base, filters, brushes, and batteries; Braava family of automatic floor mopping robots; and Braava accessories and consumables, which include cleaning solution, washable and disposable mopping pads, replacement tanks, and batteries, as well as subscription services.