iRobot Co. (NASDAQ:IRBT) Short Interest Down 17.8% in November

iRobot Co. (NASDAQ:IRBT) saw a large decline in short interest during the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,010,000 shares, a decline of 17.8% from the October 31st total of 4,880,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,040,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.9 days. Currently, 13.9% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Institutional Trading of iRobot

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its stake in shares of iRobot by 131.1% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 79,925 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $728,000 after acquiring an additional 337,057 shares during the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC bought a new position in iRobot in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,556,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of iRobot by 185.4% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 196,431 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,789,000 after purchasing an additional 127,602 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of iRobot in the 2nd quarter worth $529,000. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in shares of iRobot by 234.2% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 73,597 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $640,000 after purchasing an additional 51,575 shares during the last quarter. 77.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

iRobot Trading Up 7.1 %

Shares of IRBT traded up $0.54 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $8.15. 1,251,359 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,786,023. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $7.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $8.62. iRobot has a 1 year low of $5.83 and a 1 year high of $39.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $249.06 million, a P/E ratio of -1.66 and a beta of 0.86. 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 (NASDAQ:IRBT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.06) by $0.09. The company had revenue of $193.40 million during 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%. iRobot’s revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($3.09) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that iRobot will post -5.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of iRobot in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of iRobot from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, October 27th.

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.