iRobot (NASDAQ:IRBT) Upgraded to Hold by StockNews.com

iRobot (NASDAQ:IRBT) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday.

Separately, Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of iRobot in a research report on Thursday, August 8th.

iRobot Stock Performance

IRBT stock traded up $0.01 during trading on Thursday, hitting $8.61. 387,258 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,925,231. iRobot has a 1 year low of $5.83 and a 1 year high of $42.14. The company has a market cap of $247.60 million, a PE ratio of -1.11 and a beta of 0.84. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $8.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $8.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 1.08.

iRobot (NASDAQ:IRBT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The industrial products company reported ($1.96) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.77) by ($0.19). The firm had revenue of $166.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $168.73 million. iRobot had a negative net margin of 25.29% and a negative return on equity of 128.49%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 29.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($1.73) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that iRobot will post -4.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On iRobot

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IRBT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in iRobot by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,986,963 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $115,595,000 after purchasing an additional 34,042 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 21,982 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new stake in iRobot in the 1st quarter worth about $4,083,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 127,602 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in iRobot during the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,623,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.42% of the company’s stock.

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.