Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Weibo (NASDAQ:WB)

Weibo Co. (NASDAQ:WB) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors purchased 7,799 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 70% compared to the average daily volume of 4,590 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Weibo by 204.5% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,433,509 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $18,678,000 after purchasing an additional 1,634,230 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new stake in Weibo in the first quarter valued at $7,435,000. Krane Funds Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Weibo by 17.4% during the 2nd quarter. Krane Funds Advisors LLC now owns 3,803,752 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $29,213,000 after acquiring an additional 564,068 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings in Weibo by 64.1% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,309,385 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,056,000 after acquiring an additional 511,248 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Polunin Capital Partners Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Weibo in the 3rd quarter worth about $5,064,000. 68.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Weibo Price Performance

Shares of Weibo stock opened at $9.29 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.26 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a current ratio of 2.34, a quick ratio of 2.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $8.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $8.52. Weibo has a twelve month low of $7.03 and a twelve month high of $12.65.

Weibo (NASDAQ:WB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 22nd. The information services provider reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.10. Weibo had a net margin of 18.52% and a return on equity of 11.01%. The company had revenue of $437.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $437.97 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.42 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Weibo will post 1.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on WB shares. StockNews.com raised Weibo from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Weibo from $8.00 to $7.50 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Weibo from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Nomura Securities raised shares of Weibo to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.23.

Weibo Company Profile

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