Weibo Corporation (NASDAQ:WB) Stock Now Rated “Reduce” by Sell-Side Brokerages

Shares of Weibo Corporation (NASDAQ:WB) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the six brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $8.10.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WB. Citigroup downgraded Weibo from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $9.30 to $7.80 in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Weibo from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Weibo in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Weibo in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $6.70 price target on shares of Weibo in a research report on Friday, October 23rd.

Weibo Trading Down 1.8%

NASDAQ WB opened at $6.41 on Tuesday. Weibo has a 1 year low of $6.09 and a 1 year high of $11.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 3.59 and a quick ratio of 3.59. The company has a market capitalization of $1.57 billion, a PE ratio of 5.30 and a beta of 0.19. The company has a fifty day moving average of $6.50 and a 200 day moving average of $8.04.

Weibo (NASDAQ:WB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 20th. The information services provider reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $453.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $442.45 million. Weibo had a return on equity of 8.87% and a net margin of 17.78%. Research analysts forecast that Weibo will post 1.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Weibo

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Weibo by 67.5% during the third quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 6,325 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 2,550 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Weibo by 15.2% in the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 23,465 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $170,000 after buying an additional 3,090 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Weibo in the 2nd quarter valued at about $208,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its holdings in Weibo by 55.0% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 101,006 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $733,000 after buying an additional 35,831 shares during the period. Finally, Nykredit A S purchased a new stake in Weibo in the 2nd quarter valued at about $93,000. 68.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Weibo

Weibo Corporation operates a social media platform in China that enables users to publish, discover and share short-form posts, images, videos and other content. The platform also offers features such as trending topics, live streaming and community discussions.

Weibo serves individual users, content creators, businesses and organizations. Its services include advertising and marketing solutions that help businesses reach audiences, as well as paid membership and other value-added offerings.

The platform launched in 2009 under Sina and became the core business of Weibo Corporation, which was established in 2010.