Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on PDD (NASDAQ:PDD)

PDD Holdings Inc. Sponsored ADR (NASDAQ:PDD) was the target of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Traders bought 98,707 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 59% compared to the typical volume of 62,129 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on PDD. Loop Capital set a $170.00 price objective on PDD in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Bank of America decreased their target price on PDD from $141.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating on shares of PDD in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley set a $148.00 price target on shares of PDD in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Arete Research set a $130.00 price target on shares of PDD in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $139.87.

Institutional Trading of PDD

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PDD. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of PDD by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,810,630 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,720,397,000 after acquiring an additional 425,908 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of PDD during the 4th quarter valued at $1,065,446,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of PDD by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,759,780 shares of the company’s stock worth $761,720,000 after purchasing an additional 359,921 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of PDD by 305.8% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 6,728,909 shares of the company’s stock worth $762,991,000 after purchasing an additional 5,070,827 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Krane Funds Advisors LLC raised its holdings in PDD by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Krane Funds Advisors LLC now owns 6,397,960 shares of the company’s stock worth $725,465,000 after purchasing an additional 258,888 shares during the period. 39.83% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

PDD Stock Down 3.5%

NASDAQ PDD opened at $100.73 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $104.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $117.65. PDD has a 52 week low of $87.11 and a 52 week high of $139.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $140.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.51, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of -0.01.

PDD Company Profile

PDD (NASDAQ: PDD) is the holding company best known for operating Pinduoduo, a China-based, mobile-first e-commerce platform that emphasizes interactive, social shopping and group-buying mechanics to drive user engagement and low prices. Founded in 2015 by entrepreneur Colin Huang, the business has grown by connecting consumers directly with merchants and manufacturers, with particular emphasis on value-oriented goods and fresh agricultural produce. The company is based in Shanghai and completed a U.S.