Yirendai Ltd. (NYSE:YRD) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Yirendai Ltd. (NYSE:YRD) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totaling 2,563,242 shares, an increase of 1,932.2% from the September 30th total of 126,131 shares. Approximately 5.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 12,592,145 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.2 days.

Yirendai Price Performance

YRD stock traded down $0.01 on Tuesday, hitting $0.57. 19,808 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,060,268. Yirendai has a twelve month low of $0.36 and a twelve month high of $6.08. The business’s fifty day moving average is $0.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $1.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.61 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.23 and a beta of 1.13.

Yirendai (NYSE:YRD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 30th. The technology company reported ($0.75) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($1.13). Yirendai had a negative net margin of 35.36% and a negative return on equity of 17.30%. The firm had revenue of $131.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $237.57 million.

Yirendai declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, July 2nd that allows the company to buy back outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Yirendai in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Sell rating. According to MarketBeat, Yirendai has a consensus rating of “Sell”.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yirendai

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in YRD. GSA Capital Partners LLP increased its stake in Yirendai by 10.3% during the second quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 100,741 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $84,000 after purchasing an additional 9,391 shares during the last quarter. Ramsey Quantitative Systems bought a new position in shares of Yirendai in the 2nd quarter worth about $110,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Yirendai by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,116,961 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,917,000 after buying an additional 33,490 shares during the last quarter. 1.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yirendai Company Profile

Yirendai, now known as Yiren Digital Limited, is a China-based fintech company that provides digital financial services. The company operates an online platform focused primarily on consumer finance, helping individual borrowers access credit and providing related financial products and services through digital channels.

Founded in 2012 as a subsidiary of CreditEase, Yirendai was among the early Chinese online lending platforms to access international public markets. In response to regulatory changes affecting China’s peer-to-peer lending industry, the company broadened its business beyond its original online lending marketplace and developed additional consumer finance and wealth management offerings.

Yiren Digital primarily serves customers in mainland China.