PPDAI Group Inc. Sponsored ADR (NYSE:FINV) Short Interest Down 14.3% in March

Key Points

• Short interest fell 14.3% in March to 4,023,909 shares (about 2.8% of shares sold short), leaving a days-to-cover ratio of 4.1 days.
• PPDAI raised its annual dividend to $0.306 (ex-dividend date Apr 16), up from $0.28 and reported as a 497% yield in the release.
• Shares trade near $4.72 with a market cap of $1.2B and a P/E of 3.55; the company posted quarterly EPS of $0.05 on $432.2M revenue, and analysts' consensus is a Moderate Buy with a $12.10 price target.

PPDAI Group Inc. Sponsored ADR (NYSE:FINV - Get Free Report) was the target of a large decline in short interest in the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 4,023,909 shares, a decline of 14.3% from the February 26th total of 4,694,706 shares. Approximately 2.8% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 990,847 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.1 days.

PPDAI Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:FINV traded up $0.01 on Tuesday, reaching $4.72. 243,622 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,267,641. PPDAI Group has a twelve month low of $4.51 and a twelve month high of $10.90. The company has a fifty day moving average of $5.35 and a 200-day moving average of $5.78. The company has a market capitalization of $1.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.29. The company has a current ratio of 2.34, a quick ratio of 2.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

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

PPDAI Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 16th will be issued a $0.306 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 16th. This represents a yield of 497.0%. This is a boost from PPDAI Group's previous annual dividend of $0.28.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Institutional Trading of PPDAI Group

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 2,083 shares during the period. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in PPDAI Group by 28.5% during the fourth quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 16,462 shares of the company's stock worth $86,000 after purchasing an additional 3,655 shares during the period. FourThought Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in PPDAI Group during the fourth quarter worth about $120,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in PPDAI Group by 110.4% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Abacus Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in PPDAI Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $221,000. 31.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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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