Weibo (NASDAQ:WB) Upgraded to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Weibo (NASDAQ:WB) from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $9.80 price target on shares of Weibo in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Weibo in a report on Friday, July 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $11.90.

Weibo Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of WB opened at $8.08 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $7.69 and its 200 day moving average is $8.76. The company has a current ratio of 3.02, a quick ratio of 3.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. Weibo has a 12-month low of $7.09 and a 12-month high of $12.96. The company has a market capitalization of $1.98 billion, a PE ratio of 5.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.91 and a beta of 0.18.

Weibo (NASDAQ:WB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The information services provider reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.02). Weibo had a return on equity of 9.90% and a net margin of 21.15%.The business had revenue of $421.33 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $416.76 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.45 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Weibo will post 1.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Weibo

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WB. Saba Capital Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of Weibo by 21.0% in the 1st quarter. Saba Capital Management L.P. now owns 2,437,357 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $21,327,000 after purchasing an additional 422,294 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd purchased a new position in Weibo during the fourth quarter worth approximately $16,693,000. UBS Group AG boosted its position in Weibo by 15.9% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,596,371 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $16,315,000 after purchasing an additional 218,666 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Weibo by 26.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,155,576 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $14,329,000 after purchasing an additional 238,120 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Weibo by 497.1% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 720,348 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,865,000 after purchasing an additional 599,700 shares during the period. 68.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Weibo Company Profile

Weibo Corporation operates one of China’s leading social media and microblogging platforms under the brand name Weibo. Launched in August 2009 by Sina Corporation, Weibo enables users to create, share and engage with short-form posts in real time. The platform supports text, images, videos and live streams, and offers features such as trending topics, hashtag campaigns and public discussion forums to facilitate user interaction and content discovery.

Weibo’s product suite extends beyond basic social networking to include digital content services such as live streaming, online games, value-added messaging and e-commerce integrations.