Weibo (NASDAQ:WB) Raised to “Hold” at Nomura Securities

Nomura Securities upgraded shares of Weibo (NASDAQ:WB) to a hold rating in a research note released on Monday morning, Zacks.com reports.

Separately, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Weibo from $8.00 to $7.50 and set an underweight rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Weibo presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $9.88.

Weibo Trading Down 3.2 %

NASDAQ WB opened at $7.34 on Monday. Weibo has a one year low of $7.17 and a one year high of $13.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 2.34 and a current ratio of 2.34. The company has a market capitalization of $1.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.21. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $7.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $8.58.

Weibo (NASDAQ:WB) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 22nd. The information services provider reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.10. Weibo had a return on equity of 11.01% and a net margin of 18.52%. The company had revenue of $437.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $437.97 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.42 earnings per share. Weibo’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Weibo will post 1.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Weibo

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WB. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in Weibo by 199.1% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,075,326 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $33,675,000 after purchasing an additional 2,047,135 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Weibo by 204.5% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,433,509 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $18,678,000 after buying an additional 1,634,230 shares during the last quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Weibo by 14.5% in the fourth quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 6,825,571 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $74,740,000 after buying an additional 864,120 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new position in shares of Weibo in the 1st quarter valued at $7,435,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in shares of Weibo by 408.0% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 872,496 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,554,000 after purchasing an additional 700,758 shares during the period. 68.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.