Weibo Co. (NASDAQ:WB) Short Interest Update

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Weibo by 199.1% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,075,326 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $33,675,000 after buying an additional 2,047,135 shares in the last quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP increased its position in shares of Weibo by 14.5% during the fourth quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 6,825,571 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $74,740,000 after purchasing an additional 864,120 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new position in shares of Weibo in the first quarter valued at $7,435,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in Weibo by 408.0% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 872,496 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,554,000 after purchasing an additional 700,758 shares during the period. Finally, Ghisallo Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Weibo during the fourth quarter worth $4,521,000. Institutional investors own 68.77% of the company’s stock.

Weibo Price Performance

NASDAQ WB opened at $7.75 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $8.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.01. Weibo has a twelve month low of $7.58 and a twelve month high of $16.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.81 billion, a PE ratio of 6.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.24. 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 quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 23rd. The information services provider reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.03. The company 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Weibo will post 1.48 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on WB shares. HSBC reduced their target price on shares of Weibo from $13.60 to $9.80 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Weibo from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $11.00 to $10.00 in a research report on Friday, May 17th. UBS Group raised Weibo from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $12.90 to $11.50 in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $10.60 price objective on shares of Weibo in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Weibo presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $11.65.

About Weibo

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.