iQIYI (NASDAQ:IQ) Trading 9% Higher – Here’s What Happened

iQIYI, Inc. (NASDAQ:IQ) shares were up 9% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $2.51 and last traded at $2.50. 7,900,591 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 66% from the average daily volume of 23,362,770 shares. The stock had previously closed at $2.29.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of iQIYI in a research note on Friday, January 24th. HSBC upgraded shares of iQIYI from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $2.15 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of iQIYI from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. OTR Global reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of iQIYI in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on iQIYI from $2.50 to $1.80 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $2.91.

iQIYI Stock Up 11.6 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $2.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $2.38. The firm has a market cap of $2.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.78, a PEG ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.03.

iQIYI (NASDAQ:IQ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.04 by $0.02. iQIYI had a return on equity of 13.26% and a net margin of 4.69%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.07 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that iQIYI, Inc. will post 0.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On iQIYI

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new stake in iQIYI in the 4th quarter valued at about $6,297,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of iQIYI during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,914,000. Monolith Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of iQIYI in the 3rd quarter worth $4,576,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its position in iQIYI by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 24,357,654 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,959,000 after purchasing an additional 1,114,390 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in iQIYI by 77.1% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,871,931 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,354,000 after purchasing an additional 815,226 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.69% of the company’s stock.

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.