Sirius XM (NASDAQ:SIRI) Shares Gap Up to $4.89

Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI) shares gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $4.89, but opened at $5.49. Sirius XM shares last traded at $5.30, with a volume of 5,654,311 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on SIRI. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Sirius XM from $4.75 to $5.50 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 1st. Pivotal Research lowered their target price on Sirius XM from $5.00 to $4.75 in a research note on Tuesday, September 26th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered Sirius XM from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Sirius XM from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $6.25 to $6.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered shares of Sirius XM from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $4.50 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, July 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $5.02.

Sirius XM Price Performance

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $4.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $4.33. The company has a market capitalization of $20.42 billion, a PE ratio of 16.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.03.

Sirius XM (NASDAQ:SIRI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 31st. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.01. Sirius XM had a net margin of 14.20% and a negative return on equity of 40.30%. The business had revenue of $2.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.29 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.07 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Sirius XM Holdings Inc. will post 0.31 EPS for the current year.

Sirius XM Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 7th will be paid a $0.0266 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 6th. This represents a $0.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.00%. This is a boost from Sirius XM’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. Sirius XM’s payout ratio is currently 34.38%.

Insider Activity

In other Sirius XM news, CEO Jennifer C. Witz bought 250,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 28th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $4.11 per share, with a total value of $1,027,500.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,812,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,557,320. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sirius XM

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SIRI. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Sirius XM by 10,934.7% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 24,336,514 shares of the company’s stock valued at $110,244,000 after buying an additional 24,115,968 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Sirius XM by 482.9% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 14,641,104 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,178,000 after acquiring an additional 12,129,166 shares during the period. Zimmer Partners LP raised its holdings in Sirius XM by 295.2% during the first quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 12,389,615 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,187,000 after purchasing an additional 9,254,662 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its position in Sirius XM by 169.6% in the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 10,303,486 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,572,000 after purchasing an additional 6,482,109 shares during the period. Finally, Citigroup Inc. boosted its holdings in Sirius XM by 425.4% in the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 7,008,934 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,825,000 after purchasing an additional 5,674,832 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 10.50% of the company’s stock.

About Sirius XM

Sirius XM Holdings Inc, an audio entertainment company, operates audio business including subscription entertainment services in the United States. It operates through Sirius XM, and Pandora and Off-platform segment. The company's Sirius XM segment provides music, sports, entertainment, comedy, news, traffic and weather channels, and other content, as well as podcast and infotainment services on subscription fee basis; and live, curated, and exclusive and on demand programming services through satellite radio system and streamed via applications for mobile and home devices, and other consumer electronic equipment.