Wall Street Zen Downgrades Integral Ad Science (NASDAQ:IAS) to Hold

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen has downgraded Integral Ad Science (NASDAQ: IAS) from a "buy" to a "hold" rating, reflecting concerns about the stock's performance.
• The company's stock has a current price target consensus of $13.65, with various analysts giving mixed ratings: seven hold ratings and six buy ratings.
• Integral Ad Science's stock is currently down 4.1%, with a 12-month trading range between $6.26 and $13.62.

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Integral Ad Science (NASDAQ:IAS - Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Saturday.

IAS has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Integral Ad Science from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Barclays increased their price target on Integral Ad Science from $7.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Raymond James Financial increased their price target on Integral Ad Science from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Integral Ad Science from $13.50 to $12.50 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $13.65.

Integral Ad Science Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ IAS traded up $0.03 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $8.08. 241,751 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,020,653. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 4.01 and a current ratio of 4.01. Integral Ad Science has a 52 week low of $6.26 and a 52 week high of $13.62. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $8.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $8.56.

Integral Ad Science (NASDAQ:IAS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 12th. The company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.03 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $134.07 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $129.20 million. Integral Ad Science had a return on equity of 4.74% and a net margin of 8.56%. Sell-side analysts predict that Integral Ad Science will post 0.26 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Integral Ad Science news, CEO Lisa Utzschneider sold 14,904 shares of Integral Ad Science stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.31, for a total transaction of $123,852.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 379,316 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,152,115.96. The trade was a 3.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 25,151 shares of company stock worth $209,075. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in IAS. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its position in Integral Ad Science by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 44,921 shares of the company's stock valued at $469,000 after buying an additional 4,123 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Integral Ad Science by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,048,546 shares of the company's stock valued at $94,467,000 after buying an additional 205,562 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Integral Ad Science in the 4th quarter valued at about $807,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in Integral Ad Science by 42.7% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 155,010 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,618,000 after buying an additional 46,395 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Integral Ad Science by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 677,204 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,070,000 after buying an additional 67,038 shares in the last quarter. 95.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Integral Ad Science

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.