Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Buys New Stake in iRobot Co. (NASDAQ:IRBT)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in iRobot Co. (NASDAQ:IRBT) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 13,900 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $538,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in iRobot by 522.0% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 678 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 569 shares in the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of iRobot in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of iRobot during the 4th quarter worth about $60,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd bought a new position in iRobot during the 3rd quarter valued at about $93,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in iRobot by 27.4% during the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 8,267 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $313,000 after purchasing an additional 1,776 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.42% of the company’s stock.

iRobot Trading Up 8.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ IRBT opened at $8.46 on Tuesday. iRobot Co. has a 1-year low of $6.48 and a 1-year high of $51.49. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $9.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $22.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $240.60 million, a P/E ratio of -0.77 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.09.

iRobot (NASDAQ:IRBT) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 26th. The industrial products company reported ($2.18) EPS for the quarter. iRobot had a negative return on equity of 84.78% and a negative net margin of 34.22%. The firm had revenue of $307.54 million during the quarter. Equities research analysts expect that iRobot Co. will post -4.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Colin M. Angle sold 179,503 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.46, for a total value of $2,057,104.38. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 14,797 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $169,573.62. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on IRBT shares. StockNews.com raised shares of iRobot from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 12th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of iRobot from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 4th.

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.