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

iQIYI, Inc. (NASDAQ:IQ - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders purchased 73,617 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 415% compared to the average volume of 14,287 put options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on IQ shares. Citigroup reduced 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. OTR Global reissued a "negative" rating on shares of iQIYI in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Benchmark restated a "hold" rating on shares of iQIYI in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. HSBC raised shares of iQIYI from a "reduce" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $2.15 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of iQIYI from $2.50 to $1.80 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $2.91.

iQIYI Stock Down 4.1 %

IQ traded down $0.09 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $2.08. 24,738,768 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 28,219,346. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $2.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $2.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.00 billion, a PE ratio of 20.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.44. iQIYI has a 1 year low of $1.82 and a 1 year high of $5.80.

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iQIYI (NASDAQ:IQ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The company reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by $0.01. The business had revenue of $919.56 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.62 billion. iQIYI had a net margin of 2.62% and a return on equity of 7.62%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that iQIYI will post 0.04 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of iQIYI

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in iQIYI by 37.3% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 28,138 shares of the company's stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 7,645 shares during the last quarter. IvyRock Asset Management HK Ltd raised its holdings in shares of iQIYI by 20.0% in the 4th quarter. IvyRock Asset Management HK Ltd now owns 60,000 shares of the company's stock worth $121,000 after purchasing an additional 10,000 shares during the period. Flow Traders U.S. LLC purchased a new position in iQIYI in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Ground Swell Capital LLC bought a new position in iQIYI during the third quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in iQIYI in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. 52.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.