Weibo’s (WB) Hold Rating Reaffirmed at Benchmark

Benchmark reaffirmed their hold rating on shares of Weibo (NASDAQ:WB) in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on WB. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Weibo from $8.00 to $7.50 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Nomura Securities upgraded shares of Weibo to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Weibo from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Weibo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $10.23.

Weibo Trading Up 1.4 %

NASDAQ:WB opened at $9.18 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $2.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.29 and a beta of 0.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $9.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $8.51. Weibo has a 1 year low of $7.03 and a 1 year high of $12.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 2.34 and a quick ratio of 2.34.

Weibo (NASDAQ:WB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 22nd. The information services provider reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $437.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $437.97 million. Weibo had a net margin of 21.30% and a return on equity of 11.26%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Weibo will post 1.48 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Weibo

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Weibo during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,398,000. Krane Funds Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 564,068 shares in the last quarter. Polunin Capital Partners Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Weibo during the 3rd quarter valued at $5,064,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $10,056,000 after buying an additional 511,248 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Weibo by 9.9% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 207,646 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,887,000 after buying an additional 18,630 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.77% of the company’s stock.

About Weibo

Weibo Corporation, through its subsidiaries, operates as a social media platform for people to create, discover, and distribute 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.