Sirius XM Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:SIRI)

Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Investors purchased 31,882 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 92% compared to the typical daily volume of 16,617 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on SIRI. Evercore set a $28.00 price objective on shares of Sirius XM in a report on Friday, May 1st. Citigroup reissued a “sell” rating and set a $22.00 target price (up from $19.00) on shares of Sirius XM in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating on shares of Sirius XM in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Sirius XM from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price objective on Sirius XM from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $27.45.

Insider Transactions at Sirius XM

In related news, insider Scott Andrew Greenstein sold 20,744 shares of Sirius XM stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total value of $618,793.52. Following the sale, the insider owned 20,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $601,462.29. This trade represents a 50.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.27% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Sirius XM

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Berkshire Hathaway Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Sirius XM by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc now owns 124,807,117 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,904,886,000 after purchasing an additional 5,030,425 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Sirius XM by 262.1% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,301,181 shares of the company’s stock valued at $145,426,000 after purchasing an additional 4,560,821 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sirius XM by 165.2% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,191,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,327,000 after purchasing an additional 3,233,922 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in Sirius XM by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,487,415 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,731,000 after buying an additional 25,906 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Check Capital Management Inc. CA lifted its position in Sirius XM by 2.0% during the first quarter. Check Capital Management Inc. CA now owns 2,942,595 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,915,000 after buying an additional 59,095 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 10.69% of the company’s stock.

Sirius XM Trading Up 1.9%

Shares of SIRI stock opened at $30.51 on Friday. Sirius XM has a fifty-two week low of $19.76 and a fifty-two week high of $30.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.44. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $27.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.87, a PEG ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.95.

Sirius XM (NASDAQ:SIRI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.07 billion. Sirius XM had a net margin of 9.86% and a return on equity of 9.19%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Sirius XM will post 3.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sirius XM Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. Sirius XM’s payout ratio is presently 45.57%.

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.