Weibo (NASDAQ:WB) Sees Large Volume Increase – Here’s What Happened

Weibo Corporation (NASDAQ:WB) saw unusually-high trading volume on Monday . Approximately 971,358 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 7% from the previous session’s volume of 1,046,661 shares.The stock last traded at $8.7550 and had previously closed at $8.66.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Weibo in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $14.00.

Weibo Trading Down 0.6%

The company has a quick ratio of 3.35, a current ratio of 3.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $10.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $10.68. The company has a market capitalization of $2.13 billion, a PE ratio of 5.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.59 and a beta of 0.13.

Weibo (NASDAQ:WB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 18th. The information services provider reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by ($0.07). Weibo had a net margin of 25.55% and a return on equity of 10.63%. The business had revenue of $473.26 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $444.28 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.40 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Weibo Corporation will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Weibo Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, April 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a yield of 706.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 17th. Weibo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.06%.

Institutional Trading of Weibo

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Weibo during the 1st quarter valued at $117,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Weibo by 497.1% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 720,348 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,865,000 after acquiring an additional 599,700 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in shares of Weibo by 38.8% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 212,973 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,029,000 after acquiring an additional 59,580 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Weibo by 48.7% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 588,845 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,612,000 after purchasing an additional 192,955 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Weibo by 72.3% during the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 484,800 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,620,000 after purchasing an additional 203,500 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.77% of the company’s stock.

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.