iQIYI Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:IQ)

iQIYI, Inc. (NASDAQ:IQ) saw some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Traders acquired 30,919 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 97% compared to the typical volume of 15,711 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. OTR Global reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of iQIYI in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. HSBC upgraded shares of iQIYI from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $2.15 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of iQIYI from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on iQIYI from $2.50 to $1.80 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on iQIYI from $3.00 to $2.80 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, iQIYI has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $2.91.

Institutional Trading of iQIYI

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its holdings in iQIYI by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 24,357,654 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,959,000 after purchasing an additional 1,114,390 shares during the last quarter. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of iQIYI during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $835,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in shares of iQIYI by 77.1% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,871,931 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,354,000 after buying an additional 815,226 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in iQIYI by 16.0% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 173,386 shares of the company’s stock valued at $496,000 after buying an additional 23,926 shares during the period. Finally, Monolith Management Ltd bought a new position in iQIYI in the third quarter valued at approximately $4,576,000. 52.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

iQIYI Price Performance

Shares of iQIYI stock opened at $2.53 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $2.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.03. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $2.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $2.38. iQIYI has a twelve month low of $1.82 and a twelve month high of $5.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.45.

iQIYI (NASDAQ:IQ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.04 by $0.02. iQIYI had a return on equity of 13.26% and a net margin of 4.69%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.07 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that iQIYI will post 0.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

iQIYI Company Profile

iQIYI, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides online entertainment video services in the People's Republic of China. It offers various products and services, including online video, online games, online literature, animations, and other products. The company operates a platform that provides a collection of internet video content, such as professionally produced content licensed from professional content providers and self-produced content.