Sirius XM Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:SIRI)

Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI) was the target of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders purchased 70,933 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 254% compared to the typical daily volume of 20,032 call options.

Insider Transactions at Sirius XM

In related news, Director Jonelle Procope sold 16,672 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.97, for a total transaction of $499,659.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 18,354 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $550,069.38. This represents a 47.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.27% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Sirius XM

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SIRI. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in shares of Sirius XM by 82.9% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 17,602,229 shares of the company’s stock valued at $519,970,000 after buying an additional 7,977,045 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in Sirius XM by 2,798.6% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 6,286,910 shares of the company’s stock worth $185,715,000 after acquiring an additional 6,070,016 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Sirius XM by 262.1% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,301,181 shares of the company’s stock valued at $145,426,000 after acquiring an additional 4,560,821 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Sirius XM by 165.2% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,191,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,327,000 after acquiring an additional 3,233,922 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Sirius XM during the 4th quarter valued at $57,124,000. Institutional investors own 10.69% of the company’s stock.

Sirius XM Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:SIRI traded down $0.21 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $28.59. 1,277,638 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,865,607. Sirius XM has a 12 month low of $19.76 and a 12 month high of $32.66. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $29.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $26.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market cap of $9.64 billion, a PE ratio of 11.45, a PEG ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 0.95.

Sirius XM (NASDAQ:SIRI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.78 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $2.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.14 billion. Sirius XM had a return on equity of 9.37% and a net margin of 10.23%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.57 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Sirius XM will post 3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sirius XM Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 10th were given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 10th. Sirius XM’s payout ratio is presently 43.20%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Sirius XM in a report on Friday, July 31st. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Sirius XM in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. William Blair upgraded shares of Sirius XM to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of Sirius XM in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. They set an “overweight” rating on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Sirius XM from $24.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.00.

About Sirius XM

Sirius XM Holdings Inc is a leading audio entertainment company specializing in subscription-based satellite and streaming radio services. Formed in 2008 through the merger of Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio, the company delivers a broad range of programming across music, sports, news, talk and comedy channels. Sirius XM’s offerings include exclusive live sports play-by-play, artist-curated music channels, news coverage from major networks and original talk and entertainment series.

Headquartered in New York City, Sirius XM serves listeners throughout the United States and Canada, reaching tens of millions of subscribers.