Weibo (NASDAQ:WB) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

Weibo (NASDAQ:WB) was downgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Thursday.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on the stock. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Weibo from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Nomura Securities upgraded shares of Weibo to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Weibo from $8.00 to $7.50 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.23.

Weibo Stock Performance

WB opened at $9.29 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.26, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a fifty day moving average of $8.45 and a 200 day moving average of $8.46. Weibo has a fifty-two week low of $7.03 and a fifty-two week high of $12.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 2.34 and a current ratio of 2.34.

Weibo (NASDAQ:WB) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 22nd. The information services provider reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $437.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $437.97 million. Weibo had a net margin of 18.52% and a return on equity of 11.01%. Weibo’s quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Weibo will post 1.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Weibo

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Creative Planning bought a new stake in shares of Weibo in the 3rd quarter valued at about $112,000. Diversified Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Weibo in the 3rd quarter valued at about $194,000. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Weibo by 56.1% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 726,940 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,583,000 after purchasing an additional 261,180 shares in the last quarter. Caxton Associates LP raised its holdings in shares of Weibo by 55.9% in the 2nd quarter. Caxton Associates LP now owns 50,239 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $386,000 after purchasing an additional 18,008 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its holdings in shares of Weibo by 64.1% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,309,385 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,056,000 after purchasing an additional 511,248 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.77% of the company’s stock.

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.