iQIYI, Inc. (NASDAQ:IQ) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

iQIYI, Inc. (NASDAQ:IQ) saw a large decline in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 57,180,000 shares, a decline of 9.0% from the May 31st total of 62,860,000 shares. Approximately 10.9% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 9,120,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.3 days.

iQIYI Stock Performance

IQ traded up $0.25 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $3.88. 6,792,554 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,987,923. The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. iQIYI has a 1-year low of $3.06 and a 1-year high of $6.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 0.08. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $4.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $4.22.

iQIYI (NASDAQ:IQ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.06 by $0.04. iQIYI had a return on equity of 17.57% and a net margin of 6.23%. The company had revenue of $1.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.09 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that iQIYI will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of iQIYI

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in iQIYI by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 127,426 shares of the company’s stock worth $539,000 after buying an additional 2,950 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of iQIYI by 65.0% during the 1st quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 18,317 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,000 after buying an additional 7,219 shares in the last quarter. abrdn plc boosted its stake in shares of iQIYI by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 127,539 shares of the company’s stock valued at $622,000 after buying an additional 7,932 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in iQIYI in the fourth quarter worth $61,000. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its holdings in iQIYI by 321.9% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 17,585 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,000 after acquiring an additional 13,417 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on IQ. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $9.00 price target on shares of iQIYI in a research note on Friday, May 17th. OTR Global reissued a “mixed” rating on shares of iQIYI in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $6.18.

About iQIYI

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.