PPDAI Group Inc. Sponsored ADR (NYSE:FINV) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

PPDAI Group Inc. Sponsored ADR (NYSE:FINV - Get Free Report) saw a large growth in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 7,205,857 shares, a growth of 13.0% from the March 31st total of 6,377,563 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,033,622 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.0 days. Currently, 5.1% of the company's stock are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of PPDAI Group in a research report on Friday, March 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, PPDAI Group currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $12.10.

PPDAI Group Trading Up 2.4%

Shares of NYSE:FINV opened at $4.96 on Friday. The business's 50-day moving average is $5.15 and its 200 day moving average is $5.40. PPDAI Group has a 1 year low of $4.51 and a 1 year high of $10.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 0.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 2.34 and a quick ratio of 2.86.

PPDAI Group (NYSE:FINV - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Saturday, February 14th. The company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $432.21 million for the quarter. PPDAI Group had a return on equity of 16.39% and a net margin of 18.70%.

PPDAI Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared an annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.306 per share. This represents a yield of 637.0%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 16th. This is a boost from PPDAI Group's previous annual dividend of $0.28.

Institutional Trading of PPDAI Group

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FourThought Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in PPDAI Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $120,000. Abacus Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in PPDAI Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $221,000. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in PPDAI Group by 28.5% during the 4th quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 16,462 shares of the company's stock valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 3,655 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of PPDAI Group by 57.7% in the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 5,695 shares of the company's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 2,083 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of PPDAI Group by 110.4% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 26,404 shares of the company's stock worth $138,000 after buying an additional 13,855 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 31.15% of the company's stock.

About PPDAI Group

PPDAI Group Inc operates an online consumer finance marketplace that connects individual and institutional investors with personal and small-business borrowers. Through its digital platform, the company facilitates unsecured consumer loans, auto refinancing loans and small-business financing by leveraging proprietary credit assessment tools and big data analytics. Investors gain exposure to a diversified portfolio of retail credit assets, while borrowers benefit from streamlined application processes and competitive financing rates.

At the core of PPDAI's offering is a multi-layered risk management framework that combines automated credit scoring, manual underwriting oversight and third-party data verification.

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