iQIYI Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:IQ)

iQIYI, Inc. (NASDAQ:IQ) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders bought 42,174 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 138% compared to the typical daily volume of 17,741 put options.

iQIYI Stock Performance

Shares of IQ stock opened at $2.19 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.90, a P/E/G ratio of 4.13 and a beta of -0.18. iQIYI has a 1-year low of $1.82 and a 1-year high of $5.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $2.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $2.28.

iQIYI (NASDAQ:IQ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The company reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by $0.01. The company had revenue of $919.56 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.62 billion. iQIYI had a return on equity of 7.62% and a net margin of 2.62%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that iQIYI will post 0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On iQIYI

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its stake in shares of iQIYI by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 24,357,654 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,959,000 after buying an additional 1,114,390 shares in the last quarter. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in iQIYI in the third quarter worth approximately $835,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in shares of iQIYI by 77.1% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,871,931 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,354,000 after purchasing an additional 815,226 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of iQIYI during the 4th quarter valued at $468,000. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd lifted its stake in shares of iQIYI by 13.9% in the 4th quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 3,228,223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,489,000 after purchasing an additional 393,834 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

IQ has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. OTR Global reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of iQIYI in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on iQIYI from $3.00 to $2.80 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. HSBC upgraded iQIYI from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $2.15 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of iQIYI in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of iQIYI from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $2.91.

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.