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

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PDD

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in PDD by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,810 shares of the company’s stock valued at $244,000 after buying an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of PDD by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 2,701 shares of the company’s stock worth $359,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of PDD by 5.3% in the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,436 shares of the company’s stock valued at $324,000 after buying an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. grew its position in PDD by 6.8% in the 2nd quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 2,080 shares of the company’s stock valued at $277,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of PDD by 6.8% in the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,624 shares of the company’s stock valued at $354,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. 29.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

PDD Stock Performance

PDD traded up $1.67 during trading on Friday, reaching $114.00. 8,874,029 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,573,298. PDD has a 1 year low of $88.01 and a 1 year high of $164.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 2.11 and a quick ratio of 2.11. The stock has a market capitalization 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. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $121.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $130.53.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on PDD. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of PDD from $224.00 to $158.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Nomura Securities raised PDD to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Citigroup lowered PDD from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $194.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Macquarie raised shares of PDD from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $126.00 to $224.00 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Daiwa America raised shares of PDD to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $182.40.

PDD Company Profile

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.