iQIYI Target of Unusually Large 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 average daily volume of 17,741 put options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IQ. Flow Traders U.S. LLC acquired a new position in shares of iQIYI during the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of iQIYI in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Vident Advisory LLC purchased a new position in iQIYI in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. PDS Planning Inc purchased a new position in iQIYI in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, BTG Pactual Asset Management US LLC acquired a new stake in iQIYI during the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.69% of the company’s stock.

iQIYI Stock Performance

iQIYI stock traded down $0.05 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $2.18. 25,414,876 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,188,690. iQIYI has a twelve month low of $1.82 and a twelve month high of $5.80. The firm has a market cap of $2.09 billion, a PE ratio of 21.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.44. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $2.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $2.28.

iQIYI (NASDAQ:IQ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The company reported ($0.03) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $919.56 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.62 billion. iQIYI had a net margin of 2.62% and a return on equity of 7.62%. Equities analysts predict that iQIYI will post 0.04 earnings per share 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.