PagSeguro Digital Ltd. (NYSE:PAGS) Short Interest Down 19.1% in February

PagSeguro Digital Ltd. (NYSE:PAGS) saw a large decline in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 16,630,000 shares, a decline of 19.1% from the February 13th total of 20,560,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 4,870,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.4 days. Approximately 5.0% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Institutional Trading of PagSeguro Digital

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC purchased a new position in PagSeguro Digital in the third quarter valued at $5,716,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in PagSeguro Digital by 101.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,985,074 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,091,000 after buying an additional 999,237 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. increased its holdings in PagSeguro Digital by 587.0% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,052,166 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,059,000 after buying an additional 899,010 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in PagSeguro Digital in the fourth quarter valued at $482,000. Finally, SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda purchased a new position in PagSeguro Digital in the third quarter valued at $38,151,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.88% of the company’s stock.

PagSeguro Digital Stock Performance

Shares of PAGS stock traded up $0.65 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $8.54. The company had a trading volume of 5,737,267 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,482,826. PagSeguro Digital has a 12-month low of $6.11 and a 12-month high of $14.82. The company has a market capitalization of $2.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.05, a PEG ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 2.04. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $7.41 and a 200-day moving average of $7.78.

PagSeguro Digital (NYSE:PAGS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 21st. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.05. PagSeguro Digital had a return on equity of 15.49% and a net margin of 11.12%. The firm had revenue of $875.27 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $872.66 million. On average, analysts forecast that PagSeguro Digital will post 1.17 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on PAGS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on PagSeguro Digital from $16.00 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating on shares of PagSeguro Digital in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $7.00 price objective (down from $17.00) on shares of PagSeguro Digital in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $12.33.

PagSeguro Digital Company Profile

PagSeguro Digital Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides financial technology solutions and services for consumers, individual entrepreneurs, micro-merchants, and small and medium-sized companies in Brazil and internationally. The company's products and services include PagSeguro Ecosystem, a digital ecosystem that operates as a closed loop where its clients are able to address their primary day to day financial needs, including receiving and spending funds, and managing and growing their businesses; PagBank digital account, which offers payment and banking services through the PagBank mobile app, as well as centralizes various cash-in options, functionalities, services, and cash-out options in a single ecosystem; and PlugPag, a tool for medium-sized and larger merchants that enables them to connect their point of sale (POS) device directly to their enterprise resource planning software or sales automation system through Bluetooth.