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

Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Traders acquired 62,897 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 265% compared to the typical volume of 17,244 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sirius XM

In related news, insider Scott Andrew Greenstein sold 20,744 shares of Sirius XM stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total value of $618,793.52. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 20,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $601,462.29. This trade represents a 50.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 3.27% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sirius XM during the 4th quarter worth $622,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Sirius XM by 52.8% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 339,511 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,902,000 after buying an additional 117,250 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its holdings in Sirius XM by 858.4% in the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 2,076,539 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,726,000 after buying an additional 1,859,872 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp raised its stake in Sirius XM by 82.8% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 191,161 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,822,000 after buying an additional 86,614 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Sirius XM in the fourth quarter valued at $57,124,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 10.69% of the company’s stock.

Sirius XM Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SIRI opened at $30.59 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $28.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $24.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.44 and a quick ratio of 0.44. Sirius XM has a 1-year low of $19.76 and a 1-year high of $31.42. The company has a market cap of $10.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 0.95.

Sirius XM (NASDAQ:SIRI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 quarter last year, the company earned $0.59 EPS. Sirius XM’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Sirius XM will post 3.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sirius XM Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. Sirius XM’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on SIRI shares. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price target on Sirius XM from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Sirius XM from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Citigroup restated a “sell” rating and set a $22.00 target price (up from $19.00) on shares of Sirius XM in a report on Monday, May 4th. Barrington Research lifted their target price on Sirius XM from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Evercore set a $28.00 target price on Sirius XM in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.00.

About Sirius XM

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.