Jefferies Financial Group Initiates Coverage on Iron Mountain (NYSE:IRM)

Key Points

• Iron Mountain has been upgraded to a "strong-buy" rating by Jefferies Financial Group, indicating strong confidence in the company's potential for growth.
• The current average price target for Iron Mountain stock is set at $116.83, with analysts having a consensus rating of "Buy."
• Recently, insiders sold substantial amounts of stock, including CEO William L. Meaney, who sold over $6 million worth of shares.

Research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Iron Mountain (NYSE:IRM - Get Free Report) in a research report issued on Monday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage set a "buy" rating and a $120.00 price target on the financial services provider's stock. Jefferies Financial Group's target price indicates a potential upside of 14.93% from the company's current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Iron Mountain from $121.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Iron Mountain from $112.00 to $100.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have issued a Buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Iron Mountain presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $116.83.

Iron Mountain Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:IRM opened at $104.42 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $30.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 745.87 and a beta of 1.08. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $95.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $93.92. Iron Mountain has a fifty-two week low of $72.33 and a fifty-two week high of $130.24.

Iron Mountain (NYSE:IRM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.05. Iron Mountain had a net margin of 0.66% and a negative return on equity of 146.80%. The company had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.08 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Iron Mountain will post 4.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Mark Kidd sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.05, for a total transaction of $546,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 79,081 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,200,325.05. This trade represents a 7.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO William L. Meaney sold 69,125 shares of Iron Mountain stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.56, for a total value of $6,190,835.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 236,709 shares of company stock valued at $22,555,809 over the last quarter. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Iron Mountain

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of IRM. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Iron Mountain during the 2nd quarter valued at $419,457,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Iron Mountain during the 1st quarter valued at $192,231,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Iron Mountain by 50.6% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,289,583 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $439,983,000 after acquiring an additional 1,440,629 shares during the period. Contour Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Iron Mountain in the 1st quarter valued at $122,801,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Iron Mountain by 86.1% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,974,922 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $169,922,000 after purchasing an additional 913,715 shares during the last quarter. 80.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Iron Mountain Company Profile

Iron Mountain Incorporated NYSE: IRM is a global leader in information management services. Founded in 1951 and trusted by more than 240,000 customers worldwide, Iron Mountain serves to protect and elevate the power of our customers' work. Through a range of offerings including digital transformation, data centers, secure records storage, information management, asset lifecycle management, secure destruction and art storage and logistics, Iron Mountain helps businesses bring light to their dark data, enabling customers to unlock value and intelligence from their stored digital and physical assets at speed and with security, while helping them meet their environmental goals.