KE (NYSE:BEKE) Shares Climb 3.6% – Here’s What Happened

KE Holdings Inc. Sponsored ADR (NYSE:BEKE)’s stock price shot up 3.6% during mid-day trading on Monday. The stock traded as high as $16.88 and last traded at $16.9190. Approximately 907,071 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 4,539,024 shares. The stock had previously closed at $16.33.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BEKE has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of KE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 29th. CLSA assumed coverage on shares of KE in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $23.80 price target on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of KE in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of KE in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded KE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $23.64.

KE Trading Up 3.9%

The business’s 50-day moving average price is $17.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $16.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 3.30 and a quick ratio of 3.30. The firm has a market cap of $18.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.53 and a beta of -0.26.

KE (NYSE:BEKE) last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 21st. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $3.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.59 billion. KE had a net margin of 5.38% and a return on equity of 7.62%. Equities analysts expect that KE Holdings Inc. Sponsored ADR will post 1.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Yigang Shan sold 3,326,670 shares of KE stock in a transaction on Monday, September 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.44, for a total value of $18,097,084.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 53,868,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $293,042,948.16. The trade was a 5.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 6.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On KE

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BEKE. Norges Bank acquired a new position in KE in the fourth quarter worth $112,843,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of KE by 16.0% during the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,915,061 shares of the company’s stock worth $129,536,000 after purchasing an additional 1,231,445 shares during the period. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd raised its holdings in shares of KE by 40.7% during the fourth quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 3,047,357 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,026,000 after purchasing an additional 881,506 shares during the period. Carrhae Capital LLP bought a new position in shares of KE in the 2nd quarter worth about $10,138,000. Finally, Perseverance Asset Management International lifted its position in shares of KE by 75.1% in the 4th quarter. Perseverance Asset Management International now owns 1,155,439 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,210,000 after buying an additional 495,590 shares during the last quarter. 39.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

KE Company Profile

KE Holdings Inc, operating under the brand name Beike, is a China-based platform that provides residential real estate transaction and related services. The company connects home buyers, sellers, landlords and tenants with real estate agents and brokerage stores through its online and offline network.

Its services include existing-home sales, new-home sales, residential rentals and property-related services. Beike also provides technology and data tools for real estate professionals, including digital listings, transaction support and virtual-reality viewing capabilities.