Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI) Short Interest Update

Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 22,540,000 shares, an increase of 38.4% from the October 15th total of 16,290,000 shares. Approximately 6.7% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 5,750,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.9 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SIRI has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Sirius XM from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $23.00 price objective on shares of Sirius XM in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Pivotal Research lowered their price objective on shares of Sirius XM from $40.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Sirius XM from $2.80 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $23.00 price target on shares of Sirius XM in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $28.96.

Sirius XM Stock Down 4.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:SIRI traded down $1.23 on Friday, reaching $25.80. The company had a trading volume of 5,322,509 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,557,757. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.75 billion, a PE ratio of -4.07 and a beta of 1.04. Sirius XM has a 52-week low of $22.18 and a 52-week high of $57.80. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $25.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $29.06.

Sirius XM Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 21st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 5th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 5th. This is an increase from Sirius XM’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.19%. Sirius XM’s payout ratio is currently -17.03%.

Insider Activity

In other Sirius XM news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased 869,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 9th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $23.55 per share, with a total value of $20,483,790.00. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 106,024,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,496,884,722.95. The trade was a 0.83 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders have bought 2,646,761 shares of company stock valued at $65,952,329. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Sirius XM

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SIRI. Coston McIsaac & Partners raised its stake in shares of Sirius XM by 113.5% during the 3rd quarter. Coston McIsaac & Partners now owns 1,174 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 624 shares in the last quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC purchased a new position in Sirius XM in the third quarter worth $29,000. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Sirius XM by 2,683.7% during the third quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 1,364 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 1,315 shares in the last quarter. Trium Capital LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Sirius XM during the 3rd quarter valued at $50,000. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sirius XM in the 3rd quarter worth $51,000. 10.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Sirius XM

Sirius XM Holdings Inc operates as an audio entertainment company in North America. It operates in two segments, Sirius XM, and Pandora and Off-platform. The company’s Sirius XM segment provides music, sports, entertainment, comedy, talk, news, traffic and weather channels, and other content, as well as podcast and infotainment services on subscription fee basis; and live, curated, and exclusive and on demand programming services through satellite radio systems and streamed through applications for mobile and home devices, and other consumer electronic equipment.