Short Interest in IRIDEX Corporation (NASDAQ:IRIX) Expands By 26.3%

IRIDEX Corporation (NASDAQ:IRIX) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 357,400 shares, a growth of 26.3% from the May 15th total of 283,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 98,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.6 days. Currently, 3.0% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insider Activity at IRIDEX

In other IRIDEX news, Director Beverly A. Huss acquired 25,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $1.22 per share, for a total transaction of $31,598.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 92,639 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $113,019.58. This represents a 38.81% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders bought 42,729 shares of company stock worth $51,657. Insiders own 7.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of IRIDEX

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in IRIDEX stock. AMH Equity Ltd lifted its position in shares of IRIDEX Corporation (NASDAQ:IRIX) by 3.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 518,541 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 17,420 shares during the quarter. AMH Equity Ltd owned about 3.09% of IRIDEX worth $513,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Institutional investors own 20.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Wall Street Zen started coverage on IRIDEX in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock.

IRIDEX Price Performance

NASDAQ:IRIX opened at $0.98 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $16.39 million, a P/E ratio of -2.27 and a beta of 0.61. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $1.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $1.30. IRIDEX has a one year low of $0.78 and a one year high of $2.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.28, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.27.

IRIDEX (NASDAQ:IRIX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 13th. The medical equipment provider reported ($0.10) EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.10). The business had revenue of $11.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.10 million. IRIDEX had a negative net margin of 14.61% and a negative return on equity of 290.57%.

IRIDEX Company Profile

IRIDEX Corporation, an ophthalmic medical technology company, provides therapeutic based laser systems, delivery devices, and consumable instrumentation to treat sight-threatening eye diseases in ophthalmology. It offers laser consoles, such as Cyclo G6 laser system for use in the treatment of glaucoma; IQ 532 and IQ 577 laser systems, which are used for the treatment of retinal disorders; and OcuLight TX, OcuLight SL, OcuLight SLx, OcuLight GL, and OcuLight GLx laser photocoagulation systems that are used to treat proliferative diabetic retinopathy, macular holes, retinal tears, and detachments.