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

iRobot Corporation (NASDAQ:IRBT) was the target of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Investors bought 10,574 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 63% compared to the average volume of 6,506 put options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On iRobot

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in iRobot by 26.0% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 520,039 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,404,000 after buying an additional 107,257 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in iRobot by 333.3% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 305,679 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $825,000 after acquiring an additional 235,133 shares during the period. Graham Capital Management L.P. raised its position in iRobot by 162.6% in the first quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P. now owns 296,205 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $800,000 after acquiring an additional 183,401 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in iRobot in the first quarter worth $231,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd lifted its holdings in iRobot by 230.5% in the first quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 174,650 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $472,000 after acquiring an additional 121,799 shares during the period. 77.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IRBT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of iRobot from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of iRobot in a research report on Monday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of iRobot in a report on Thursday, August 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce”.

iRobot Stock Down 1.9%

NASDAQ:IRBT opened at $1.53 on Wednesday. iRobot has a 52 week low of $1.40 and a 52 week high of $13.06. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $3.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $3.51. The company has a market cap of $48.69 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.24 and a beta of 0.98.

iRobot (NASDAQ:IRBT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The industrial products company reported ($0.23) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.65) by $0.42. iRobot had a negative net margin of 32.55% and a negative return on equity of 296.63%. The firm had revenue of $145.83 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $136.00 million. On average, analysts expect that iRobot will post -5.74 EPS 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.