PPDAI Group (NYSE:FINV) Stock Price Up 6.1% – Still a Buy?

PPDAI Group Inc. Sponsored ADR (NYSE:FINV)’s share price shot up 6.1% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $3.59 and last traded at $3.6080. Approximately 315,933 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average session volume of 998,273 shares. The stock had previously closed at $3.40.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FINV has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $4.10 target price (down from $8.10) on shares of PPDAI Group in a research note on Friday, August 28th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of PPDAI Group from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $4.10.

PPDAI Group Trading Down 9.5%

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $4.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $4.93. The company has a current ratio of 2.84, a quick ratio of 3.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a market capitalization of $807.72 million, a PE ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.34.

PPDAI Group (NYSE:FINV) last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 14th. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of $500.91 million for the quarter. PPDAI Group had a return on equity of 12.31% and a net margin of 14.49%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PPDAI Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of PPDAI Group by 57.7% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 5,695 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 2,083 shares during the period. FourThought Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in PPDAI Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $120,000. Abacus Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of PPDAI Group in the fourth quarter worth about $221,000. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in shares of PPDAI Group by 114.5% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 59,266 shares of the company’s stock worth $571,000 after acquiring an additional 31,641 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in shares of PPDAI Group by 2.6% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 475,988 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,584,000 after acquiring an additional 12,000 shares during the period. 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.