iQIYI (NASDAQ:IQ) Shares Down 3.8% – Here’s Why

iQIYI, Inc. (NASDAQ:IQ)’s share price fell 3.8% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $2.40 and last traded at $2.39. 16,029,307 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 5% from the average session volume of 16,882,118 shares. The stock had previously closed at $2.48.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on IQ shares. Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of iQIYI in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Citigroup cut their target price 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 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. OTR Global reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of iQIYI in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on iQIYI from $2.50 to $1.80 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, iQIYI currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $2.91.

iQIYI Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $2.28 billion, a PE ratio of 23.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $2.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $2.27.

iQIYI (NASDAQ:IQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The company reported ($0.03) earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $919.56 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.62 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that iQIYI, Inc. will post 0.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On iQIYI

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of IQ. Flow Traders U.S. LLC acquired a new position in iQIYI in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in iQIYI in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Vident Advisory LLC acquired a new position in iQIYI in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. PDS Planning Inc acquired a new position in iQIYI in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, BTG Pactual Asset Management US LLC acquired a new position in iQIYI in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.69% of the company’s stock.

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.