Short Interest in PPDAI Group Inc. Sponsored ADR (NYSE:FINV) Grows By 58.5%

Key Points

• Short interest in PPDAI (NYSE:FINV) rose 58.5% to 6,377,563 shares as of March 31, representing about 4.5% of shares outstanding and a days-to-cover of 2.8 days.
• PPDAI has an average analyst rating of "Moderate Buy" with a consensus price target of $12.10 (one Buy, one Hold) while Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a Hold, and institutional investors own roughly 31.15% of the stock with several funds recently adding to positions.
• The company raised its annual dividend to $0.306 (ex-dividend April 16, payable May 7) and trades near $4.99 with a market cap of $1.26 billion, a P/E of 3.72, and a 52-week range of $4.51–$10.90.

PPDAI Group Inc. Sponsored ADR (NYSE:FINV - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 6,377,563 shares, a growth of 58.5% from the March 15th total of 4,023,909 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,302,974 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.8 days. Approximately 4.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of PPDAI Group in a 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. According to data from MarketBeat, PPDAI Group currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $12.10.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PPDAI Group

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. FourThought Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in PPDAI Group in the fourth quarter worth $120,000. Abacus Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in PPDAI Group in the fourth quarter worth $221,000. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in PPDAI Group by 28.5% in 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 last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in 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 last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 13,855 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 31.15% of the company's stock.

PPDAI Group Trading Up 0.7%

PPDAI Group stock opened at $4.99 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.72 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 has a 1 year low of $4.51 and a 1 year high of $10.90. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $5.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $5.59.

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

PPDAI Group Increases Dividend

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

PPDAI Group Company Profile

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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