IREN (NASDAQ:IREN) Shares Up 9.8% on Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• IREN Limited's shares surged 9.8% following an analyst upgrade from Macquarie, which set a new price target of $86.00 and currently holds an outperform rating.
• CEO Daniel John Roberts recently sold 1,000,000 shares for over $33 million, decreasing ownership by 6.67%, while corporate insiders own 5.02% of the stock.
• Analysts are mixed on IREN, with eleven giving a Buy ratings and a consensus price target of $54.45, indicating overall confidence in the company's performance.

IREN Limited (NASDAQ:IREN - Get Free Report)'s share price traded up 9.8% during trading on Thursday after Macquarie raised their price target on the stock to $86.00. Macquarie currently has an outperform rating on the stock. IREN traded as high as $56.15 and last traded at $56.89. 18,535,432 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 22% from the average session volume of 23,694,916 shares. The stock had previously closed at $51.83.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Arete began coverage on IREN in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $78.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an "underweight" rating and issued a $24.00 price objective (up previously from $16.00) on shares of IREN in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Jones Trading cut IREN from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. B. Riley reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of IREN in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of IREN in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $54.45.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Daniel John Roberts sold 1,000,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.13, for a total transaction of $33,130,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 13,989,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $463,478,628.48. This represents a 6.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 5.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of IREN. Global Retirement Partners LLC acquired a new position in IREN during the third quarter worth $25,000. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in IREN in the first quarter valued at $40,000. Delta Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in IREN in the first quarter valued at $61,000. R Squared Ltd grew its holdings in IREN by 170.1% in the first quarter. R Squared Ltd now owns 10,290 shares of the company's stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 6,480 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in IREN by 68.4% in the second quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,528 shares of the company's stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 1,839 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.08% of the company's stock.

IREN Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 4.29, a current ratio of 4.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The company has a market cap of $15.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 96.59 and a beta of 4.19. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $21.03.

IREN (NASDAQ:IREN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 28th. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $187.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $187.51 million. IREN had a return on equity of 1.34% and a net margin of 33.03%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that IREN Limited will post 0.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

IREN Company Profile

IREN Limited, formerly known as Iris Energy Limited, owns and operates bitcoin mining data centers. The company was incorporated in 2018 and is headquartered in Sydney, Australia.

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