Traders Purchase Large Volume of Sirius XM Call Options (NASDAQ:SIRI)

Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI) was the target of unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock investors acquired 62,897 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 265% compared to the average daily volume of 17,244 call options.

Sirius XM Trading Down 2.0%

Shares of Sirius XM stock opened at $30.59 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.44. Sirius XM has a 52 week low of $19.76 and a 52 week high of $31.42. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $28.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $24.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.30 billion, a PE ratio of 12.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.95.

Sirius XM (NASDAQ:SIRI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.02. Sirius XM had a return on equity of 9.19% and a net margin of 9.86%.The company had revenue of $2.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. Sirius XM’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Sirius XM will post 3.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sirius XM Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 11th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. Sirius XM’s payout ratio is 45.57%.

Insider Transactions at Sirius XM

In other Sirius XM news, insider Scott Andrew Greenstein sold 20,744 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total value of $618,793.52. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 20,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $601,462.29. The trade was a 50.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 3.27% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in SIRI. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Sirius XM by 262.1% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,301,181 shares of the company’s stock worth $145,426,000 after acquiring an additional 4,560,821 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Sirius XM by 165.2% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,191,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,327,000 after acquiring an additional 3,233,922 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Sirius XM in the 4th quarter valued at about $57,124,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in Sirius XM by 858.4% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 2,076,539 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,726,000 after purchasing an additional 1,859,872 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Sirius XM during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,548,000. 10.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Sirius XM from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Citigroup reissued a “sell” rating and set a $22.00 target price (up from $19.00) on shares of Sirius XM in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating on shares of Sirius XM in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. Evercore set a $28.00 price target on shares of Sirius XM in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities dropped their price objective on shares of Sirius XM from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.00.

Sirius XM Company Profile

Sirius XM Holdings Inc is a leading audio entertainment company specializing in subscription-based satellite and streaming radio services. Formed in 2008 through the merger of Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio, the company delivers a broad range of programming across music, sports, news, talk and comedy channels. Sirius XM’s offerings include exclusive live sports play-by-play, artist-curated music channels, news coverage from major networks and original talk and entertainment series.

Headquartered in New York City, Sirius XM serves listeners throughout the United States and Canada, reaching tens of millions of subscribers.