KE (NYSE:BEKE) Shares Climb 3.6% – Should You Buy?

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

KE Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 3.30 and a current ratio of 3.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.53 and a beta of -0.26. The business has a fifty day moving average of $17.00 and a 200-day moving average of $16.51.

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

Insider Activity at KE

In related news, Director Yigang Shan sold 3,326,670 shares of KE stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.44, for a total transaction of $18,097,084.80. Following the sale, the director directly owned 53,868,189 shares in the company, 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 through the SEC website. Company insiders own 6.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On KE

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of KE by 86.7% in the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 127,216 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,904,000 after acquiring an additional 59,079 shares in the last quarter. Perseverance Asset Management International raised its holdings in KE by 20.4% during the first quarter. Perseverance Asset Management International now owns 1,391,439 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,830,000 after purchasing an additional 236,000 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in KE by 16.0% in 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. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in KE by 5.8% in the second quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,942,507 shares of the company’s stock worth $86,345,000 after purchasing an additional 324,707 shares during the period. Finally, Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new position in KE during the 1st quarter valued at $2,592,000. Institutional investors own 39.34% of the company’s stock.

About KE

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.