iRobot Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:IRBT)

iRobot Corporation (NASDAQ:IRBT) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders bought 10,574 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 63% compared to the average volume of 6,506 put options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On iRobot

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in iRobot by 7.9% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 133,088 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $359,000 after purchasing an additional 9,688 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its stake in shares of iRobot by 2,194.9% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 11,314 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 10,821 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd boosted its position in iRobot by 230.5% during the 1st quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 174,650 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $472,000 after purchasing an additional 121,799 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in iRobot by 13.6% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 412,722 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,114,000 after purchasing an additional 49,523 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in iRobot by 333.3% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 305,679 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $825,000 after purchasing an additional 235,133 shares during the period. 77.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of iRobot from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of iRobot in a research note on Monday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of iRobot in a report on Thursday, August 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, iRobot presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce”.

iRobot Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ IRBT opened at $1.65 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $3.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $3.49. The company has a market cap of $52.51 million, a PE ratio of -0.26 and a beta of 0.98. iRobot has a 12 month low of $1.40 and a 12 month high of $13.06.

iRobot (NASDAQ:IRBT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The industrial products company reported ($0.23) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.65) by $0.42. The firm had revenue of $145.83 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $136.00 million. iRobot had a negative net margin of 32.55% and a negative return on equity of 296.63%. On average, 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.