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

iQIYI, Inc. Sponsored ADR (NASDAQ:IQ - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading on Monday. Stock traders acquired 36,529 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 107% compared to the typical volume of 17,647 call options.

iQIYI Stock Down 2.3%

iQIYI stock traded down $0.04 on Thursday, hitting $1.69. 13,154,570 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 23,050,015. iQIYI has a 1 year low of $1.50 and a 1 year high of $4.24. The firm has a market cap of $1.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.14 and a beta of -0.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $1.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $2.02.

iQIYI (NASDAQ:IQ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 21st. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.05 by ($0.02). iQIYI had a return on equity of 3.62% and a net margin of 1.02%. The business had revenue of $988.19 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.10 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that iQIYI will post 0.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of iQIYI

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Krane Funds Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in iQIYI by 23.6% in the first quarter. Krane Funds Advisors LLC now owns 26,905,091 shares of the company's stock worth $60,806,000 after acquiring an additional 5,141,322 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in iQIYI by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,956,694 shares of the company's stock worth $42,842,000 after purchasing an additional 663,609 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in iQIYI by 41.6% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,011,033 shares of the company's stock valued at $22,135,000 after purchasing an additional 3,235,223 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in iQIYI by 44.5% during the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 9,370,852 shares of the company's stock valued at $21,178,000 after purchasing an additional 2,886,631 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its holdings in iQIYI by 78.2% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 3,745,666 shares of the company's stock worth $7,529,000 after buying an additional 1,643,387 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.69% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Benchmark reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of iQIYI in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of iQIYI from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $2.91.

About iQIYI

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.