Traders Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on iRobot (NASDAQ:IRBT)

iRobot Co. (NASDAQ:IRBT - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading on Monday. Stock investors purchased 13,328 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 512% compared to the average daily volume of 2,178 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On iRobot

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in iRobot by 2,712.4% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 400,427 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $3,480,000 after buying an additional 386,189 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its stake in shares of iRobot by 131.1% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of iRobot during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,556,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake 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 valued at $1,789,000 after purchasing an additional 127,602 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in iRobot in the 2nd quarter worth about $529,000. 77.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

iRobot Stock Performance

NASDAQ IRBT traded up $2.79 on Monday, reaching $12.70. 8,258,996 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,003,837. iRobot has a fifty-two week low of $5.83 and a fifty-two week high of $38.36. 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 firm has a market cap of $388.10 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.76 and a beta of 0.80. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $8.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $8.38.

iRobot (NASDAQ:IRBT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.06) by $0.09. The business had revenue of $193.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $218.41 million. iRobot had a negative return on equity of 100.79% and a negative net margin of 16.15%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($3.09) EPS. Equities research analysts predict that iRobot will post -5.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

IRBT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of iRobot in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com lowered iRobot from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Sunday, October 27th.

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.