Integral Ad Science Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:IAS) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Integral Ad Science Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:IAS) was the target of a significant 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. Based on an average daily volume of 1,650,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.6 days. Currently, 3.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Integral Ad Science Trading Down 3.3 %

Shares of Integral Ad Science stock opened at $9.54 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $11.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $13.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 238.56, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a current ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 3.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Integral Ad Science has a 12-month low of $9.10 and a 12-month high of $20.88.

Integral Ad Science (NASDAQ:IAS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.03 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $134.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $131.27 million. Integral Ad Science had a net margin of 1.53% and a return on equity of 0.83%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.07 EPS. Analysts predict that Integral Ad Science will post 0.16 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Integral Ad Science

In other Integral Ad Science news, CFO Tania Secor sold 6,570 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.71, for a total transaction of $63,794.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 230,888 shares in the company, valued at $2,241,922.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Integral Ad Science news, CFO Tania Secor sold 6,570 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.71, for a total transaction of $63,794.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 230,888 shares in the company, valued at $2,241,922.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Lisa Utzschneider sold 30,407 shares of Integral Ad Science stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.05, for a total transaction of $305,590.35. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 188,678 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,896,213.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 80,195 shares of company stock worth $876,562 over the last 90 days. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Integral Ad Science

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Integral Ad Science by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,106,247 shares of the company’s stock worth $116,649,000 after buying an additional 780,469 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Integral Ad Science by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,494,608 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,287,000 after purchasing an additional 214,693 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in Integral Ad Science by 33.9% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,311,489 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,541,000 after purchasing an additional 839,103 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Integral Ad Science by 15,557.5% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,152,174 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,500,000 after purchasing an additional 3,132,042 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Integral Ad Science by 605.1% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,740,011 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,429,000 after purchasing an additional 2,351,414 shares in the last quarter. 95.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on IAS shares. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Integral Ad Science from $20.00 to $18.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Integral Ad Science in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $19.00 price objective for the company. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Integral Ad Science from $26.00 to $17.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Integral Ad Science from $18.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $12.00 price objective (down from $18.00) on shares of Integral Ad Science in a research report on Tuesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $17.58.

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.