Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Put Options on iQIYI (NASDAQ:IQ)

iQIYI, Inc. (NASDAQ:IQ) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 42,174 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 138% compared to the average volume of 17,741 put options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On iQIYI

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

iQIYI Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ IQ opened at $2.19 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $2.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $2.28. iQIYI has a 12 month low of $1.82 and a 12 month high of $5.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.10 billion, a PE ratio of 21.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.13 and a beta of -0.18.

iQIYI (NASDAQ:IQ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The company reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $6.62 billion. Equities analysts expect that iQIYI will post 0.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. HSBC raised shares of iQIYI from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $2.15 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of iQIYI in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded iQIYI from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. OTR Global restated a “negative” rating on shares of iQIYI in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Citigroup dropped 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average 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.