Insulet Co. (NASDAQ:PODD) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

Insulet Co. (NASDAQ:PODD) saw a significant decline in short interest in the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,160,000 shares, a decline of 11.5% from the January 31st total of 2,440,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 588,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.7 days.

Insider Activity at Insulet

In other news, EVP Eric Benjamin sold 12,394 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $3,470,320.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 11,383 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,187,240. The trade was a 52.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Lauren Budden sold 915 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.62, for a total transaction of $252,192.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,733 shares in the company, valued at $1,580,129.46. This represents a 13.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Insulet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Insulet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $248,806,000. Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Insulet by 20.7% during the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 2,275,701 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $529,669,000 after acquiring an additional 389,639 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its position in shares of Insulet by 5,928.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 325,821 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $75,835,000 after acquiring an additional 320,416 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Insulet in the 4th quarter worth $69,433,000. Finally, Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt bought a new position in Insulet in the 4th quarter worth $53,184,000.

Insulet Trading Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ:PODD opened at $270.81 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $19.02 billion, a PE ratio of 46.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 3.68, a quick ratio of 2.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $274.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $251.93. Insulet has a 12 month low of $160.19 and a 12 month high of $289.46.

Insulet (NASDAQ:PODD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $597.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $582.02 million. Insulet had a return on equity of 24.46% and a net margin of 20.19%. Research analysts forecast that Insulet will post 3.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PODD has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Insulet from $310.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Insulet from $264.00 to $324.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. BTIG Research lifted their price objective on Insulet from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Insulet from $234.00 to $317.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on Insulet from $304.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $289.06.

About Insulet

Insulet Corporation develops, manufactures, and sells insulin delivery systems for people with insulin-dependent diabetes. The company's Omnipod platform includes the Omnipod 5 Automated Insulin Delivery System (Omnipod 5) which includes a proprietary AID algorithm embedded in the Pod that integrates with a third-party continuous glucose monitor to obtain glucose values through wireless bluetooth communication; Omnipod DASH that features a bluetooth enabled Pod that is controlled by a smartphone-like Personal Diabetes Manager with a color touch screen user interface; and Omnipod GO, a standalone, wearable, insulin delivery system that provides a fixed rate of continuous rapid-acting insulin for 72 hours.