Immersion Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:IMMR)

Immersion Corporation (NASDAQ:IMMR) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors bought 3,967 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 654% compared to the typical volume of 526 put options.

Institutional Trading of Immersion

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Caitlin John LLC purchased a new position in shares of Immersion during the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Immersion by 85.5% in the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 4,429 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 2,041 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its position in shares of Immersion by 677.7% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 7,738 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 6,743 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP boosted its stake in shares of Immersion by 52.0% in the first quarter. Quarry LP now owns 9,370 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $71,000 after acquiring an additional 3,204 shares during the period. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Immersion during the second quarter worth about $80,000. 60.57% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IMMR has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BWS Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $13.50 target price on shares of Immersion in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Immersion in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Immersion has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $12.25.

Immersion Trading Up 0.4%

Immersion stock traded up $0.03 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $7.07. The company had a trading volume of 101,287 shares, compared to its average volume of 442,199. The firm has a market capitalization of $228.91 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.88. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $6.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $7.18. Immersion has a 52 week low of $5.65 and a 52 week high of $10.72.

Immersion Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. This is an increase from Immersion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.05. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 16th. Immersion’s payout ratio is presently 6.47%.

Immersion Company Profile

Immersion Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the creation, design, development, and licensing of haptic technologies that allow people to use their sense of touch to engage with and experience various digital products in North America, Europe, and Asia. The company provides technology, patent, and combined licenses.