Weibo (NASDAQ:WB) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Here’s What Happened

Weibo Corporation (NASDAQ:WB) shares saw unusually-strong trading volume on Thursday . Approximately 786,613 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 33% from the previous session’s volume of 1,176,183 shares.The stock last traded at $7.3750 and had previously closed at $7.42.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on WB shares. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Weibo from a “hold (c)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $9.80 target price on shares of Weibo in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Weibo from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $11.90.

Weibo Stock Performance

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $8.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of $9.40. The stock has a market cap of $1.80 billion, a PE ratio of 5.14, a PEG ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 0.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 3.02 and a quick ratio of 3.02.

Weibo (NASDAQ:WB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The information services provider reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.02). Weibo had a return on equity of 9.90% and a net margin of 21.15%.The company had revenue of $421.33 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $416.76 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.45 EPS. Weibo’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Weibo Corporation will post 1.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Weibo

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC lifted its position in Weibo by 99.8% during the third quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 1,045,801 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,968,000 after buying an additional 522,400 shares during the period. Causeway Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Weibo by 11.7% in the third quarter. Causeway Capital Management LLC now owns 2,952,249 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $36,608,000 after buying an additional 308,531 shares in the last quarter. Krane Funds Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Weibo by 25.0% in the third quarter. Krane Funds Advisors LLC now owns 4,676,063 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $57,983,000 after buying an additional 934,898 shares in the last quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Weibo during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,081,000. Finally, XY Capital Ltd grew its stake in Weibo by 94.1% during the 4th quarter. XY Capital Ltd now owns 198,356 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,027,000 after purchasing an additional 96,150 shares in the last quarter. 68.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.