iQIYI (NASDAQ:IQ) Trading Up 9% – Still a Buy?

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IQ has been the subject of several research reports. OTR Global reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of iQIYI in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of iQIYI from $2.50 to $1.80 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of iQIYI from $3.00 to $2.80 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Benchmark restated a “hold” rating on shares of iQIYI in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, HSBC upgraded iQIYI from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $2.15 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $2.91.

iQIYI Stock Up 11.6 %

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

iQIYI (NASDAQ:IQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $0.06 earnings per share (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 period in the previous year, the company earned $0.07 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that iQIYI, Inc. will post 0.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On iQIYI

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of iQIYI by 37.3% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 28,138 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 7,645 shares in the last quarter. IvyRock Asset Management HK Ltd grew its position in iQIYI by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. IvyRock Asset Management HK Ltd now owns 60,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,000 after acquiring an additional 10,000 shares during the last quarter. Flow Traders U.S. LLC acquired a new position in iQIYI during the third quarter worth about $32,000. Ground Swell Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of iQIYI in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of iQIYI during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 52.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.