Weibo Co. (NASDAQ:WB) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Weibo Co. (NASDAQ:WB) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seven ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have given a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $10.23.

WB has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Weibo from $8.00 to $7.50 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Citigroup raised their price target on Weibo from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Nomura Securities upgraded Weibo to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Weibo

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in shares of Weibo by 226.3% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 246,841 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,703,000 after buying an additional 171,188 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in Weibo by 79.4% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 112,397 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,231,000 after acquiring an additional 49,742 shares in the last quarter. Ghisallo Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Weibo during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,521,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 2,047,135 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd increased its position in shares of Weibo by 47.8% during the 4th quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 48,602 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $531,000 after purchasing an additional 15,715 shares during the last quarter. 68.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Weibo Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WB opened at $10.80 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.22. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $7.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $8.36. Weibo has a fifty-two week low of $7.03 and a fifty-two week 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.

Weibo (NASDAQ:WB) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 22nd. The information services provider reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.10. The company 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 quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Weibo will post 1.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Weibo

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.