Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on iRobot (NASDAQ:IRBT)

iRobot Co. (NASDAQ:IRBT) saw some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors purchased 7,306 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 216% compared to the typical daily volume of 2,313 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On iRobot

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of IRBT. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of iRobot by 1.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,164,040 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $10,116,000 after acquiring an additional 14,075 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its holdings in iRobot by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 796,923 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $7,260,000 after purchasing an additional 21,982 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in iRobot by 2.9% in the 3rd 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. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of iRobot during the first quarter valued at about $4,083,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of iRobot by 185.4% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 196,431 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,789,000 after buying an additional 127,602 shares during the period. 77.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

iRobot Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:IRBT traded up $0.32 on Tuesday, hitting $7.29. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,095,825 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,805,870. iRobot has a 12 month low of $5.83 and a 12 month high of $42.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.45. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $7.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $8.86. The company has a market capitalization of $222.78 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.59 and a beta of 0.86.

iRobot (NASDAQ:IRBT) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. iRobot had a negative net margin of 16.15% and a negative return on equity of 100.79%. The firm had revenue of $193.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $218.41 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($3.09) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast 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.