Benchmark Reiterates “Buy” Rating for Taboola.com (NASDAQ:TBLA)

Taboola.com (NASDAQ:TBLA)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by stock analysts at Benchmark in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $4.50 price objective on the stock. Benchmark’s price target indicates a potential upside of 52.03% from the stock’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $4.00 price target on shares of Taboola.com in a research note on Thursday. B. Riley cut Taboola.com from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $5.00 to $4.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Taboola.com in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Citizens Jmp downgraded Taboola.com from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, JMP Securities decreased their price target on shares of Taboola.com from $6.00 to $5.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $4.38.

Taboola.com Stock Down 2.3 %

TBLA opened at $2.96 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $3.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3.48. Taboola.com has a 1-year low of $2.69 and a 1-year high of $4.60. The stock has a market cap of $872.21 million, a PE ratio of -29.60 and a beta of 1.33.

Taboola.com declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to repurchase $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 22.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Taboola.com

In other news, Director Zvi Limon bought 168,506 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $2.93 per share, for a total transaction of $493,722.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,987,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,753,032.19. This trade represents a 5.98 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Adam Singolda acquired 60,229 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $2.72 per share, with a total value of $163,822.88. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,462,943 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,339,204.96. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 22.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Taboola.com

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of TBLA. Wolverine Trading LLC lifted its position in shares of Taboola.com by 98.4% during the 4th quarter. Wolverine Trading LLC now owns 17,063 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 8,463 shares during the period. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Taboola.com in the 4th quarter valued at about $68,000. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in Taboola.com in the 4th quarter valued at about $81,000. Aquatic Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Taboola.com during the 4th quarter worth approximately $103,000. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in Taboola.com in the fourth quarter worth approximately $109,000. 42.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Taboola.com Company Profile

Taboola.com Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, operates an artificial intelligence-based algorithmic engine platform in Israel, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and internationally. It offers Taboola, a platform that partners with websites, devices, and mobile apps to recommend editorial content and advertisements on the open web to users.