Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $4.49 Million in PDD Holdings Inc. Sponsored ADR $PDD

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in PDD Holdings Inc. Sponsored ADR (NASDAQ:PDD) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 43,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,486,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in PDD by 1.3% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in PDD in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,065,446,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of PDD by 5.6% during 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 during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of PDD by 305.8% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Krane Funds Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of PDD by 4.2% during 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 39.83% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on PDD. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on PDD from $132.00 to $110.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Barclays downgraded shares of PDD from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $165.00 to $89.00 in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Morgan Stanley set a $129.00 price target on shares of PDD in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Arete Research upgraded shares of PDD from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $121.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane began coverage on shares of PDD in a research report on Monday, June 15th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $89.00 price objective for the company. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $124.64.

PDD Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PDD opened at $76.55 on Friday. PDD Holdings Inc. Sponsored ADR has a 52 week low of $71.94 and a 52 week high of $139.41. The firm has a market cap of $108.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.27, a P/E/G ratio of 0.60 and a beta of -0.02. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $90.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $100.74.

PDD (NASDAQ:PDD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 27th. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.40 by ($1.02). PDD had a return on equity of 24.32% and a net margin of 21.86%.The business had revenue of $15.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.57 EPS. PDD’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that PDD Holdings Inc. Sponsored ADR will post 9.7 EPS for the current year.

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.