iRobot Co. (NASDAQ:IRBT) Short Interest Up 11.7% in December

iRobot Co. (NASDAQ:IRBT) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,340,000 shares, an increase of 11.7% from the December 15th total of 2,990,000 shares. Approximately 11.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,310,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.5 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On iRobot

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of IRBT. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in iRobot by 2.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 676,472 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,880,000 after purchasing an additional 19,233 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of iRobot by 250.1% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 37,369 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $325,000 after purchasing an additional 26,694 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of iRobot by 28.4% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 15,595 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $121,000 after buying an additional 3,448 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in iRobot by 37.0% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 21,141 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $184,000 after purchasing an additional 5,709 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC acquired a new stake in iRobot in the third quarter worth about $1,556,000. Institutional investors own 77.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on IRBT shares. StockNews.com raised shares of iRobot from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of iRobot in a report on Thursday, November 7th.

iRobot Stock Up 6.6 %

Shares of iRobot stock traded up $0.55 on Friday, reaching $8.85. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,325,690 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,453,871. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. iRobot has a 52 week low of $5.83 and a 52 week high of $28.09. The company has a market capitalization of $270.46 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.92 and a beta of 0.80. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $8.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $8.43.

iRobot (NASDAQ:IRBT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.06) by $0.09. The business had revenue of $193.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $218.41 million. iRobot had a negative net margin of 16.15% and a negative return on equity of 100.79%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($3.09) earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that iRobot will post -5.74 earnings per share for the current year.

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.