Weibo (NASDAQ:WB) Raised to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Weibo (NASDAQ:WB) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on WB. Morgan Stanley dropped 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. Nomura Securities raised Weibo to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Weibo from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $10.23.

Weibo Stock Up 3.5 %

WB stock opened at $9.59 on Friday. Weibo has a fifty-two week low of $7.03 and a fifty-two week high of $12.65. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $8.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $8.45. 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 $2.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.23.

Weibo (NASDAQ:WB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 22nd. The information services provider reported $0.48 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $437.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $437.97 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.42 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Weibo will post 1.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Weibo

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Polunin Capital Partners Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Weibo in the 3rd quarter worth $5,064,000. Creative Planning bought a new stake in shares of Weibo in the third quarter worth about $112,000. Diversified Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Weibo in the third quarter worth about $194,000. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in Weibo by 56.1% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 726,940 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,583,000 after acquiring an additional 261,180 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caxton Associates LP grew its position in Weibo by 55.9% in the second quarter. Caxton Associates LP now owns 50,239 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $386,000 after acquiring an additional 18,008 shares in the last quarter. 68.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Weibo Company Profile

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.