Qfin Holdings Inc. - Sponsored ADR (NASDAQ:QFIN) Short Interest Down 30.4% in April

Key Points

• Short interest down 30.4% — short interest fell to 1,580,164 shares as of April 15 (from 2,268,938 on March 31), equal to 1.3% of shares outstanding and a days-to-cover ratio of about 1.5.
• Wall Street sentiment is negative overall: QFIN has a consensus rating of "Reduce" with a $22.20 target, after mixed recent notes including Jefferies cutting its price objective to $23.40 and Weiss Ratings downgrading the stock to a sell.
• Insider buying and a dividend announced — director Xiaohuan Chen bought 190,000 shares at about $12.89 (~$2.45M), and the company declared a $0.78 dividend payable May 14 (ex-dividend April 22, reported yield 1,176%).

Qfin Holdings Inc. - Sponsored ADR (NASDAQ:QFIN - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 1,580,164 shares, a drop of 30.4% from the March 31st total of 2,268,938 shares. Currently, 1.3% of the company's shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,082,395 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.5 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

QFIN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Qfin from $30.30 to $23.40 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Weiss Ratings lowered Qfin from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Qfin presently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $22.20.

Qfin Stock Down 2.2%

Shares of QFIN traded down $0.30 on Tuesday, reaching $13.01. The stock had a trading volume of 403,787 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,504,421. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.24 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 2.94 and a current ratio of 2.43. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $13.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $17.73. Qfin has a 12-month low of $12.29 and a 12-month high of $47.00.

Qfin (NASDAQ:QFIN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Saturday, February 14th. The company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of $584.98 million during the quarter. Qfin had a return on equity of 24.97% and a net margin of 31.13%. Sell-side analysts predict that Qfin will post 3.82 EPS for the current year.

Qfin Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 22nd will be paid a $0.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 22nd. This represents a dividend yield of 1,176.0%. Qfin's payout ratio is currently 25.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Qfin

In other Qfin news, Director Xiaohuan Chen acquired 190,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 27th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $12.89 per share, for a total transaction of $2,449,100.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 190,000 shares in the company, valued at $2,449,100. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 17.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of QFIN. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Qfin in the first quarter worth $29,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Qfin by 6,796.4% in the fourth quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,931 shares of the company's stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 1,903 shares during the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd raised its stake in shares of Qfin by 415.9% in the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 2,636 shares of the company's stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 2,125 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Qfin by 24.1% in the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 3,373 shares of the company's stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 656 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Qfin by 23.4% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 5,358 shares of the company's stock worth $103,000 after purchasing an additional 1,016 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.81% of the company's stock.

Qfin Company Profile

360 DigiTech, Inc NASDAQ: QFIN is a China‐based fintech company that specializes in providing digital lending solutions to underserved consumer and small business markets. Leveraging proprietary credit assessment technologies and big data analytics, the company connects borrowers with a network of financial institutions and investors through its online platform. Its services encompass unsecured consumer loans, installment credit products, and working capital financing for micro and small enterprises.

The company's flagship platform offers an end‐to‐end digital lending experience, from application and credit evaluation to disbursement and repayment.

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