PDD Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:PDD) Short Interest Down 20.0% in October

PDD Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:PDD) saw a significant decrease in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 26,390,000 shares, a decrease of 20.0% from the October 15th total of 32,980,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 16,040,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.6 days.

Institutional Trading of PDD

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PDD. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PDD in the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in PDD in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in PDD in the 2nd quarter worth about $32,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in PDD by 3,883.3% during the 2nd quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 239 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 233 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC acquired a new position in shares of PDD during the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 29.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on PDD. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their target price on PDD from $235.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of PDD from $206.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Macquarie raised shares of PDD from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $126.00 to $224.00 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Nomura Securities upgraded PDD to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Daiwa America upgraded PDD to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $182.40.

PDD Stock Performance

NASDAQ PDD traded up $1.67 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $114.00. The stock had a trading volume of 8,874,029 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,364,797. PDD has a 52-week low of $88.01 and a 52-week high of $164.69. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $121.59 and a 200 day moving average of $130.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 2.11. The stock has a market cap of $156.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 0.71.

PDD (NASDAQ:PDD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 26th. The company reported $23.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $20.58. PDD had a return on equity of 48.14% and a net margin of 28.92%. The company had revenue of $97.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $100.17 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.27 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 85.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that PDD will post 11.19 earnings per share for the current year.

About PDD

PDD Holdings Inc, a multinational commerce group, owns and operates a portfolio of businesses. It operates Pinduoduo, an e-commerce platform that offers products in various categories, including agricultural produce, apparel, shoes, bags, mother and childcare products, food and beverage, electronic appliances, furniture and household goods, cosmetics and other personal care, sports and fitness items and auto accessories; and Temu, an online marketplace.