Short Interest in iQIYI, Inc. (NASDAQ:IQ) Decreases By 9.0%

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On iQIYI

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of IQ. Ballentine Partners LLC purchased a new position in iQIYI in the 4th quarter valued at about $54,000. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in iQIYI in the 4th quarter valued at about $61,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its stake in iQIYI by 321.9% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 17,585 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,000 after buying an additional 13,417 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new position in iQIYI in the 4th quarter valued at about $114,000. Finally, DGS Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in iQIYI by 111.1% in the 4th quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 26,517 shares of the company’s stock valued at $129,000 after buying an additional 13,958 shares in the last quarter. 52.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on IQ. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $9.00 price target on shares of iQIYI in a report on Friday, May 17th. OTR Global reaffirmed a “mixed” rating on shares of iQIYI in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, iQIYI presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $6.18.

iQIYI Price Performance

Shares of IQ stock traded up $0.26 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $3.89. 9,930,305 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,012,629. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $4.54 and a 200 day moving average of $4.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. iQIYI has a 52-week low of $3.06 and a 52-week high of $6.47. The company has a market cap of $3.73 billion, a PE ratio of 13.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 0.08.

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 net margin of 6.23% and a return on equity of 17.57%. The business had revenue of $1.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. Research analysts anticipate that iQIYI will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

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.