Investors Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on iRobot (NASDAQ:IRBT)

iRobot Co. (NASDAQ:IRBT) was the target of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders bought 10,706 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 65% compared to the average daily volume of 6,487 put options.

Institutional Trading of iRobot

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Strs Ohio purchased a new position in shares of iRobot during the first quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of iRobot by 26.0% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 520,039 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,404,000 after acquiring an additional 107,257 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in iRobot by 31,130.0% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 31,230 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $84,000 after purchasing an additional 31,130 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in shares of iRobot by 1.7% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 358,262 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $967,000 after acquiring an additional 5,857 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of iRobot by 299.6% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 234,819 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $634,000 after purchasing an additional 176,056 shares during the last quarter. 77.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of iRobot in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Wall Street Zen lowered iRobot from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, March 29th.

iRobot Stock Performance

Shares of IRBT opened at $3.72 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $2.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $5.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.45. iRobot has a 52-week low of $1.76 and a 52-week high of $13.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $115.71 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.81 and a beta of 0.83.

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.