Weibo Co. (NASDAQ:WB) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Weibo Co. (NASDAQ:WB) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the seven research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have issued a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $10.23.

Several research firms recently commented on WB. Citigroup upped their target price on Weibo from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Nomura Securities raised shares of Weibo to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Weibo from $8.00 to $7.50 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 23rd.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Weibo

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in WB. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Weibo by 199.1% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,075,326 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $33,675,000 after buying an additional 2,047,135 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Weibo by 204.5% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,433,509 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $18,678,000 after purchasing an additional 1,634,230 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new position in shares of Weibo in the first quarter valued at $7,435,000. Krane Funds Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Weibo by 17.4% during the 2nd quarter. Krane Funds Advisors LLC now owns 3,803,752 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $29,213,000 after purchasing an additional 564,068 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in Weibo by 64.1% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,309,385 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,056,000 after buying an additional 511,248 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.77% of the company’s stock.

Weibo Price Performance

Weibo stock opened at $10.60 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.23. Weibo has a 12-month low of $7.03 and a 12-month high of $13.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 2.34 and a quick ratio of 2.34. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $7.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $8.40.

Weibo (NASDAQ:WB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 22nd. The information services provider reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $437.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $437.97 million. Weibo had a net margin of 18.52% and a return on equity of 11.01%. Weibo’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.42 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Weibo will post 1.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Weibo Company Profile

Weibo Corporation, through its subsidiaries, operates as a social media platform for people to create, distribute, and discover content in the People's Republic of China. It operates in two segments, Advertising and Marketing Services; and Value-Added Services. The company offers discovery products to help users discover content on its platform; self-expression products that enable its users to express themselves on its platform; and social products to promote social interaction between users on its platform.