Investors Purchase High Volume of iQIYI Put Options (NASDAQ:IQ)

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of iQIYI by 37.3% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 28,138 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 7,645 shares in the last quarter. IvyRock Asset Management HK Ltd boosted its stake in iQIYI by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. IvyRock Asset Management HK Ltd now owns 60,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,000 after acquiring an additional 10,000 shares during the last quarter. Flow Traders U.S. LLC bought a new stake in iQIYI in the third quarter valued at about $32,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in iQIYI in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC acquired a new position in iQIYI in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.69% of the company’s stock.

iQIYI Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:IQ traded down $0.05 on Wednesday, reaching $2.18. The company had a trading volume of 25,414,876 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,188,690. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.80, a P/E/G ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.05. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $2.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $2.28. iQIYI has a twelve month low of $1.82 and a twelve month high of $5.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

iQIYI (NASDAQ:IQ) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The company reported ($0.03) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by $0.01. iQIYI had a return on equity of 7.62% and a net margin of 2.62%. The firm had revenue of $919.56 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.62 billion. On average, equities analysts expect that iQIYI will post 0.04 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. OTR Global reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of iQIYI in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of iQIYI in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. HSBC raised shares of iQIYI from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $2.15 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of iQIYI from $3.00 to $2.80 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of iQIYI from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average 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.