Short Interest in iQIYI, Inc. (NASDAQ:IQ) Rises By 23.4%

iQIYI, Inc. (NASDAQ:IQ) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 49,860,000 shares, an increase of 23.4% from the February 13th total of 40,410,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 25,630,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.9 days. Approximately 9.5% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on IQ. Citigroup reduced their price objective on iQIYI from $3.00 to $2.80 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of iQIYI in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. HSBC raised 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on iQIYI from $2.50 to $1.80 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, OTR Global reissued a “negative” rating on shares of iQIYI in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $2.91.

iQIYI Stock Performance

iQIYI stock opened at $2.48 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $2.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $2.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.38 billion, a PE ratio of 24.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.05. 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 one year low of $1.82 and a one year high of $5.80.

iQIYI (NASDAQ:IQ) last released 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. The business had revenue of $919.56 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.62 billion. iQIYI had a net margin of 2.62% and a return on equity of 7.62%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that iQIYI will post 0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its holdings in iQIYI by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 24,357,654 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,959,000 after acquiring an additional 1,114,390 shares in the last quarter. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in iQIYI during the 3rd quarter worth $835,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in shares of iQIYI by 77.1% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,871,931 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,354,000 after buying an additional 815,226 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in shares of iQIYI in the 4th quarter valued at about $468,000. Finally, E Fund Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of iQIYI by 39.6% in the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,667,758 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,362,000 after buying an additional 756,552 shares during the period. 52.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.