Short Interest in iRobot Co. (NASDAQ:IRBT) Declines By 17.8%

iRobot Co. (NASDAQ:IRBT) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,010,000 shares, a drop of 17.8% from the October 31st total of 4,880,000 shares. Currently, 13.9% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,040,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.9 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IRBT has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com cut shares of iRobot from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, October 27th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of iRobot in a report on Thursday, November 7th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On iRobot

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of IRBT. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of iRobot by 474.6% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,758 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 2,278 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of iRobot in the third quarter worth $39,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of iRobot by 1,167.8% during the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,653 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 4,286 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. bought a new position in iRobot in the 2nd quarter worth about $61,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of iRobot by 72.6% during the second quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 7,550 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 3,175 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.42% of the company’s stock.

iRobot Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ IRBT traded up $0.52 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $7.61. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 939,969 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,788,338. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $7.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $8.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $232.55 million, a P/E ratio of -1.65 and a beta of 0.86. iRobot has a 12-month low of $5.83 and a 12-month high of $39.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 0.94.

iRobot (NASDAQ:IRBT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.06) by $0.09. iRobot had a negative return on equity of 100.79% and a negative net margin of 16.15%. The company had revenue of $193.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $218.41 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($3.09) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that iRobot will post -5.74 earnings per share for the current year.

About iRobot

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.