Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Sirius XM Call Options (NASDAQ:SIRI)

Key Points

• Sirius XM saw unusually heavy options activity on Thursday, with traders buying 58,116 call options—about 203% above the typical daily volume.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed, with recent target increases from JPMorgan, Barrington Research, and Guggenheim, while the stock’s consensus rating stays at “Hold” with an average price target of $27.45.
• The company reported solid quarterly results and a dividend, beating earnings and revenue estimates, and paying a quarterly dividend of $0.27 per share, which annualizes to a 3.9% yield.

Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders acquired 58,116 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 203% compared to the typical daily volume of 19,167 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SIRI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded Sirius XM from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Sirius XM from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Citigroup reiterated a "sell" rating and set a $22.00 price target (up from $19.00) on shares of Sirius XM in a report on Monday, May 4th. Barrington Research raised their price objective on shares of Sirius XM from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Guggenheim restated a "buy" rating and set a $34.00 price objective (up from $29.00) on shares of Sirius XM in a report on Friday, April 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sirius XM currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $27.45.

Sirius XM Stock Performance

NASDAQ SIRI remained flat at $27.59 on Thursday. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,571,425 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,279,099. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $26.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $23.13. Sirius XM has a 1-year low of $19.76 and a 1-year high of $30.11. The company has a market cap of $9.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.44 and a quick ratio of 0.44.

Sirius XM (NASDAQ:SIRI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.07 billion. Sirius XM had a return on equity of 9.19% and a net margin of 9.86%.Sirius XM's revenue was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.59 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Sirius XM will post 3.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sirius XM Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 11th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. Sirius XM's payout ratio is presently 45.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Scott Andrew Greenstein sold 20,744 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total transaction of $618,793.52. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 20,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $601,462.29. The trade was a 50.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 3.27% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of SIRI. Berkshire Hathaway Inc raised its holdings in shares of Sirius XM by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc now owns 124,807,117 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,904,886,000 after acquiring an additional 5,030,425 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Sirius XM by 262.1% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,301,181 shares of the company's stock worth $145,426,000 after purchasing an additional 4,560,821 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sirius XM by 165.2% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,191,440 shares of the company's stock worth $117,327,000 after purchasing an additional 3,233,922 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Sirius XM by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,487,415 shares of the company's stock worth $69,731,000 after purchasing an additional 25,906 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Check Capital Management Inc. CA boosted its holdings in shares of Sirius XM by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Check Capital Management Inc. CA now owns 2,942,595 shares of the company's stock worth $67,915,000 after purchasing an additional 59,095 shares in the last quarter. 10.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Sirius XM Company Profile

Sirius XM Holdings Inc is a leading audio entertainment company specializing in subscription-based satellite and streaming radio services. Formed in 2008 through the merger of Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio, the company delivers a broad range of programming across music, sports, news, talk and comedy channels. Sirius XM's offerings include exclusive live sports play-by-play, artist-curated music channels, news coverage from major networks and original talk and entertainment series.

Headquartered in New York City, Sirius XM serves listeners throughout the United States and Canada, reaching tens of millions of subscribers.

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