Short Interest in Weibo Co. (NASDAQ:WB) Increases By 24.1%

Weibo Co. (NASDAQ:WB) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 16,969,100 shares, an increase of 24.1% from the May 31st total of 13,670,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,081,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 8.2 days.

Weibo Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ WB opened at $7.68 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.45, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 0.24. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $8.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.03. Weibo has a 52 week low of $7.58 and a 52 week high of $16.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a current ratio of 2.24.

Weibo (NASDAQ:WB) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 23rd. The information services provider reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $395.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $396.50 million. Weibo had a return on equity of 10.92% and a net margin of 16.74%. On average, research analysts predict that Weibo will post 1.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WB. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $10.60 target price on shares of Weibo in a report on Thursday, March 28th. HSBC dropped their target price on Weibo from $13.60 to $9.80 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 15th. UBS Group upgraded Weibo from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $12.90 to $11.50 in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded Weibo from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $11.00 to $10.00 in a report on Friday, May 17th. Two 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $11.65.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WB. Profund Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Weibo during the third quarter worth $133,000. Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new position in Weibo during the third quarter worth $828,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd raised its stake in Weibo by 38.2% during the third quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 32,887 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $413,000 after acquiring an additional 9,093 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in Weibo by 212.9% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 48,588 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $532,000 after acquiring an additional 33,059 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its stake in Weibo by 13.4% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 203,584 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,229,000 after acquiring an additional 24,000 shares in the last quarter. 68.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Weibo Company Profile

Weibo Corporation, through its subsidiaries, operates as a social media platform for people to create, distribute, and discover 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.