Traders Buy High Volume of PDD Put Options (NASDAQ:PDD)

PDD Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:PDD) saw unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Traders acquired 132,077 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 133% compared to the average daily volume of 56,699 put options.

Institutional Trading of PDD

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. purchased a new position in shares of PDD during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,813,000. Parametrica Management Ltd raised its holdings in shares of PDD by 67.6% during the 3rd quarter. Parametrica Management Ltd now owns 41,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,060,000 after buying an additional 16,700 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of PDD by 38.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,101,615 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,363,645,000 after buying an additional 6,637,418 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of PDD during the 4th quarter valued at about $13,379,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of PDD by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 297,090 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,334,000 after buying an additional 20,045 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 29.07% of the company’s stock.

PDD Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ PDD opened at $113.70 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $122.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $125.57. PDD has a 52 week low of $59.67 and a 52 week high of $152.99. The company has a market cap of $150.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.84, a P/E/G ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a quick ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 1.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

PDD (NASDAQ:PDD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 20th. The company reported $2.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $0.81. PDD had a return on equity of 39.10% and a net margin of 24.23%. The firm had revenue of $12.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.80 billion. Research analysts anticipate that PDD will post 7.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on PDD. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on PDD from $157.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Benchmark increased their price target on PDD from $215.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Barclays increased their price target on PDD from $164.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Citigroup increased their price target on PDD from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on PDD from $195.00 to $190.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $146.85.

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.