Short Interest in Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI) Rises By 38.4%

Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 22,540,000 shares, an increase of 38.4% from the October 15th total of 16,290,000 shares. Approximately 6.7% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 5,750,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.9 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $43.00 price target on shares of Sirius XM in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $23.00 target price on shares of Sirius XM in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of Sirius XM in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of Sirius XM from $37.50 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Sirius XM from $2.80 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.96.

Sirius XM Price Performance

Shares of Sirius XM stock traded down $1.23 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $25.80. The stock had a trading volume of 5,322,509 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,557,757. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $25.61 and its 200 day moving average is $29.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. Sirius XM has a twelve month low of $22.18 and a twelve month high of $57.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.75 billion, a PE ratio of -4.07 and a beta of 1.04.

Sirius XM Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired 1,259,259 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 11th. The shares were purchased 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,712,541,245.60. This represents a 1.17 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have purchased a total of 2,646,761 shares of company stock worth $65,952,329 over the last 90 days. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Sirius XM

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Coston McIsaac & Partners lifted its position in shares of Sirius XM by 113.5% during the 3rd quarter. Coston McIsaac & Partners now owns 1,174 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 624 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in Sirius XM during the second quarter worth $28,000. TCTC Holdings LLC purchased a new position in Sirius XM during the third quarter valued at $29,000. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,315 shares during the period. Finally, Walker Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sirius XM during the second quarter worth about $33,000. 10.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.