PPDAI Group (NYSE:FINV) Stock Price Up 6.5% After Dividend Announcement

PPDAI Group Inc. Sponsored ADR (NYSE:FINV)’s stock price was up 6.5% during mid-day trading on Tuesday following a dividend announcement from the company. The stock traded as high as $5.83 and last traded at $5.8490. Approximately 1,007,252 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 4% from the average daily volume of 1,045,501 shares. The stock had previously closed at $5.49.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Thursday, May 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.306 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 497.0%. This is a positive change from PPDAI Group’s previous annual dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 16th.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on FINV shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of PPDAI Group in a report on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of PPDAI Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, November 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PPDAI Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $12.10.

PPDAI Group Stock Down 4.3%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 2.86 and a current ratio of 2.86. The firm has a market cap of $1.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.30. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $5.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $5.96.

PPDAI Group (NYSE:FINV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 16th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by ($0.06). PPDAI Group had a return on equity of 16.66% and a net margin of 18.70%.The firm had revenue of $432.21 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $514.80 million.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PPDAI Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in PPDAI Group by 573.9% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,050,439 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,116,000 after purchasing an additional 894,566 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in shares of PPDAI Group by 7.0% during the 2nd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 510,777 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,869,000 after buying an additional 33,207 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its position in shares of PPDAI Group by 2.6% during the 1st 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 buying an additional 12,000 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of PPDAI Group by 246.7% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 103,163 shares of the company’s stock valued at $978,000 after buying an additional 73,410 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in PPDAI Group by 114.5% in the 1st 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 31.15% of the company’s stock.

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.