iQIYI (NASDAQ:IQ) Shares Gap Down – Time to Sell?

iQIYI, Inc. (NASDAQ:IQ) gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $2.80, but opened at $2.66. iQIYI shares last traded at $2.70, with a volume of 4,964,261 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Hsbc Global Res downgraded iQIYI from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. HSBC cut iQIYI from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $4.70 to $3.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut iQIYI from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $2.80 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Benchmark lowered shares of iQIYI from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of iQIYI from $5.00 to $3.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $3.45.

iQIYI Trading Down 3.2 %

The company has a 50 day moving average of $2.62 and a 200 day moving average of $3.69. The firm has a market cap of $2.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 0.07. The company has a current ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

iQIYI (NASDAQ:IQ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 22nd. The company reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.06 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. iQIYI had a net margin of 5.37% and a return on equity of 14.57%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.05 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that iQIYI, Inc. will post 0.16 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of iQIYI

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Prudential PLC raised its holdings in shares of iQIYI by 40.1% in the fourth quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 126,570 shares of the company’s stock valued at $618,000 after buying an additional 36,242 shares during the last quarter. Krane Funds Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of iQIYI by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Krane Funds Advisors LLC now owns 19,194,425 shares of the company’s stock worth $93,669,000 after purchasing an additional 467,032 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of iQIYI by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,756,701 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,653,000 after purchasing an additional 170,227 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in iQIYI by 67.7% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 210,773 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,029,000 after buying an additional 85,052 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of iQIYI by 65.0% in the 1st quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 18,317 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,000 after buying an additional 7,219 shares during the period. 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.