iQIYI, Inc. (NASDAQ:IQ) Short Interest Update

iQIYI, Inc. (NASDAQ:IQ) saw a large increase in short interest in 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. Currently, 9.5% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 25,630,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.9 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On iQIYI

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in iQIYI by 37.3% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 28,138 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 7,645 shares in the last quarter. IvyRock Asset Management HK Ltd grew its holdings in iQIYI by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. IvyRock Asset Management HK Ltd now owns 60,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,000 after buying an additional 10,000 shares in the last quarter. Flow Traders U.S. LLC bought a new stake in shares of iQIYI during the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of iQIYI in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of iQIYI during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Institutional investors own 52.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

IQ has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. OTR Global reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of iQIYI in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. 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 report on Friday, November 22nd. Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of iQIYI in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of iQIYI from $3.00 to $2.80 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded iQIYI from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, iQIYI currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $2.91.

iQIYI Price Performance

NASDAQ:IQ traded down $0.01 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $2.49. 7,332,010 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,727,277. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $2.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $2.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The company has a market cap of $2.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.05. iQIYI has a 1 year low of $1.82 and a 1 year high of $5.80.

iQIYI (NASDAQ:IQ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The company reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by $0.01. iQIYI had a net margin of 2.62% and a return on equity of 7.62%. The company had revenue of $919.56 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.62 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that iQIYI will post 0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.