PagSeguro Digital Ltd. (NYSE:PAGS) Short Interest Down 19.1% in February

PagSeguro Digital Ltd. (NYSE:PAGS) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 16,630,000 shares, a drop of 19.1% from the February 13th total of 20,560,000 shares. Currently, 5.0% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 4,870,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.4 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on PAGS shares. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $7.00 target price (down previously from $17.00) on shares of PagSeguro Digital in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on PagSeguro Digital from $16.00 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating on shares of PagSeguro Digital in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, PagSeguro Digital has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $12.33.

PagSeguro Digital Stock Performance

Shares of PAGS stock traded up $0.65 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $8.54. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,737,267 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,482,826. PagSeguro Digital has a 52-week low of $6.11 and a 52-week high of $14.82. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $7.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $7.78. The stock has a market cap of $2.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.05, a PEG ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 2.04.

PagSeguro Digital (NYSE:PAGS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 21st. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.05. PagSeguro Digital had a return on equity of 15.49% and a net margin of 11.12%. The firm had revenue of $875.27 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $872.66 million. Equities research analysts predict that PagSeguro Digital will post 1.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of PagSeguro Digital

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in PagSeguro Digital in the fourth quarter worth about $6,577,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio boosted its stake in PagSeguro Digital by 94.8% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 550,117 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,444,000 after buying an additional 267,765 shares during the last quarter. Sylebra Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of PagSeguro Digital by 53.0% in the 4th quarter. Sylebra Capital LLC now owns 12,143,691 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,020,000 after purchasing an additional 4,208,192 shares during the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of PagSeguro Digital by 53.9% in the 4th quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 2,766,492 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,318,000 after purchasing an additional 968,926 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sone Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of PagSeguro Digital in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,174,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.88% of the company’s stock.

PagSeguro Digital Company Profile

PagSeguro Digital Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides financial technology solutions and services for consumers, individual entrepreneurs, micro-merchants, and small and medium-sized companies in Brazil and internationally. The company's products and services include PagSeguro Ecosystem, a digital ecosystem that operates as a closed loop where its clients are able to address their primary day to day financial needs, including receiving and spending funds, and managing and growing their businesses; PagBank digital account, which offers payment and banking services through the PagBank mobile app, as well as centralizes various cash-in options, functionalities, services, and cash-out options in a single ecosystem; and PlugPag, a tool for medium-sized and larger merchants that enables them to connect their point of sale (POS) device directly to their enterprise resource planning software or sales automation system through Bluetooth.