Qfin (NASDAQ:QFIN) Shares Climb 7.8% – Still a Buy?

Qfin Holdings Inc. – Sponsored ADR (NASDAQ:QFIN)’s stock price traded up 7.8% during trading on Monday. The stock traded as high as $5.52 and last traded at $5.5750. Approximately 261,624 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 1,720,367 shares. The stock had previously closed at $5.17.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on QFIN shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $13.00 target price on shares of Qfin in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Qfin from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $13.50 to $9.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 26th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Qfin in a report on Friday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley lowered Qfin from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $13.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, August 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $15.40 target price on shares of Qfin in a report on Wednesday, August 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Qfin has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $12.29.

Qfin Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $641.62 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $7.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $12.38. The company has a quick ratio of 2.17, a current ratio of 2.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Qfin (NASDAQ:QFIN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 14th. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter. Qfin had a net margin of 22.23% and a return on equity of 15.23%. The company had revenue of $524.96 million during the quarter. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Qfin Holdings Inc. – Sponsored ADR will post 2.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Qfin Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th were paid a $0.46 dividend. This represents a yield of 1,070.0%. This is a drop from Qfin’s previous dividend of $0.78. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 9th. Qfin’s payout ratio is 21.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Andrew Yan sold 326,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.36, for a total transaction of $2,404,512.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders sold a total of 657,550 shares of company stock valued at $4,889,121 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 17.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Qfin

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Qfin by 73.7% during the third quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 5,492 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 2,330 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its position in Qfin by 90.1% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 5,518 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 2,615 shares in the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Qfin in the 3rd quarter valued at about $69,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Qfin in the 1st quarter valued at about $136,000. Finally, DGS Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Qfin by 8.8% in the 1st quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 10,906 shares of the company’s stock valued at $141,000 after buying an additional 878 shares during the last quarter. 74.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Qfin

Qifu Technology, Inc (NASDAQ: QFIN), formerly known as 360 DigiTech, Inc, is a China-based financial technology company. It operates a technology platform that connects individual borrowers with financial institution partners and supports the origination, underwriting, servicing and management of consumer credit products.

The company uses data analytics, artificial intelligence and other digital tools to assess credit risk and improve lending efficiency. Its platform supports products and services designed to provide personal loans and other consumer financing options, primarily through online and mobile channels.