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

Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of 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. Currently, 6.7% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 5,750,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.9 days.

Insider Activity at Sirius XM

In other Sirius XM news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased 1,259,259 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 11th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $24.95 per share, with a total value of $31,418,512.05. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 108,719,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,712,541,245.60. This trade represents a 1.17 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders bought 2,646,761 shares of company stock worth $65,952,329 in the last three months. 0.79% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sirius XM

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Pivotal Research decreased their target price on Sirius XM from $40.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Guggenheim lowered shares of Sirius XM from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $23.00 target price on shares of Sirius XM in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $28.00 price target on shares of Sirius XM in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on Sirius XM in a research report on Wednesday. They set a “sell” rating on the stock. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given 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 an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $28.96.

Sirius XM Stock Down 4.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:SIRI traded down $1.23 during trading on Friday, reaching $25.80. 5,322,509 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,557,757. 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 52-week low of $22.18 and a 52-week 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. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $25.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $29.06.

Sirius XM Increases Dividend

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

Sirius XM Company Profile

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.