Short Interest in Integral Ad Science Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:IAS) Increases By 7.6%

Integral Ad Science Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:IAS) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,560,000 shares, a growth of 7.6% from the March 15th total of 2,380,000 shares. Currently, 3.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,650,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.6 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on shares of Integral Ad Science from $25.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $12.00 price target (down from $18.00) on shares of Integral Ad Science in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Integral Ad Science from $16.00 to $12.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Raymond James downgraded shares of Integral Ad Science from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $20.00 to $16.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Integral Ad Science in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $19.00 price target on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Integral Ad Science currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $17.58.

Integral Ad Science Stock Performance

NASDAQ:IAS opened at $9.38 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 238.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.60. Integral Ad Science has a twelve month low of $9.10 and a twelve month high of $20.88. The company has a fifty day moving average of $11.82 and a 200-day moving average of $13.11. The company has a quick ratio of 3.21, a current ratio of 3.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Integral Ad Science (NASDAQ:IAS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.03 by $0.03. Integral Ad Science had a return on equity of 0.83% and a net margin of 1.53%. The firm had revenue of $134.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $131.27 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.07 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Integral Ad Science will post 0.16 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Integral Ad Science

In other news, CEO Lisa Utzschneider sold 13,113 shares of Integral Ad Science stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.79, for a total transaction of $207,054.27. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 148,657 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,347,294.03. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Integral Ad Science news, CEO Lisa Utzschneider sold 13,113 shares of Integral Ad Science stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.79, for a total value of $207,054.27. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 148,657 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,347,294.03. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Alexis Gil II sold 3,177 shares of Integral Ad Science stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.24, for a total transaction of $32,532.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 120,195 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,230,796.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 80,195 shares of company stock valued at $876,562 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Integral Ad Science

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of IAS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Integral Ad Science by 286.0% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 119,294 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,646,000 after acquiring an additional 88,390 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Integral Ad Science by 74.3% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 87,728 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,210,000 after buying an additional 37,393 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its holdings in Integral Ad Science by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 149,859 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,155,000 after buying an additional 5,018 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Integral Ad Science by 185.3% in the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 19,760 shares of the company’s stock worth $273,000 after buying an additional 12,835 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in Integral Ad Science by 112.4% in the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 33,014 shares of the company’s stock worth $456,000 after buying an additional 17,470 shares during the period. 95.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Integral Ad Science Company Profile

Integral Ad Science Holding Corp. operates as a digital advertising verification company in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Singapore, Australia, Japan, India, and the Nordics. The company provides IAS Signal, a cloud-based technology platform that offers return on ad spend needs; and deliver independent measurement and verification of digital advertising across devices, channels, and formats, including desktop, mobile, connected TV, social, display, and video.