Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI) saw a significant growth in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 22,540,000 shares, a growth of 38.4% from the October 15th total of 16,290,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 5,750,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.9 days. Currently, 6.7% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sirius XM

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired 1,259,259 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $24.95 per share, with a total value of $31,418,512.05. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 108,719,088 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,712,541,245.60. This trade represents a 1.17 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Over the last quarter, insiders bought 2,646,761 shares of company stock valued at $65,952,329. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Sirius XM

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SIRI. Coston McIsaac & Partners lifted its holdings in shares of Sirius XM by 113.5% in the 3rd quarter. Coston McIsaac & Partners now owns 1,174 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 624 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new stake in Sirius XM in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. TCTC Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sirius XM in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sirius XM by 2,683.7% in the third quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 1,364 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 1,315 shares during the period. Finally, Walker Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sirius XM during the second quarter worth approximately $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 10.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Sirius XM from $2.80 to $21.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Sirius XM in a report on Wednesday. They issued a “sell” rating for the company. Guggenheim lowered Sirius XM from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Sirius XM from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $43.00 price objective on shares of Sirius XM in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $28.96.

Sirius XM Stock Down 4.6 %

NASDAQ SIRI traded down $1.23 during trading on Friday, reaching $25.80. 5,322,509 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,557,757. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $25.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $29.06. The stock has a market cap of $8.75 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.07 and a beta of 1.04. Sirius XM has a 1 year low of $22.18 and a 1 year high of $57.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37.

Sirius XM Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 21st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 5th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. This is a positive change from Sirius XM’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.19%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 5th. Sirius XM’s dividend payout ratio is currently -17.03%.

About Sirius XM

Sirius XM Holdings Inc operates as an audio entertainment company in North America. It operates in two segments, Sirius XM, and Pandora and Off-platform. The company’s Sirius XM segment provides music, sports, entertainment, comedy, talk, 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 systems and streamed through applications for mobile and home devices, and other consumer electronic equipment.