Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) Trading Up 5% After Analyst Upgrade

Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU)’s share price was up 5% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Arete Research upgraded the stock from a sell rating to a buy rating. Arete Research now has a $143.00 price target on the stock. Baidu traded as high as $119.50 and last traded at $120.60. Approximately 2,484,933 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 46% from the average daily volume of 4,564,943 shares. The stock had previously closed at $114.82.

BIDU has been the topic of several other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Baidu from $120.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Macquarie reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Baidu in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Benchmark reduced their price objective on shares of Baidu from $120.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Arete upgraded shares of Baidu from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $143.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Baidu from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Baidu currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $110.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its holdings in shares of Baidu by 1.4% in the second quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 12,116,750 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,039,132,000 after purchasing an additional 170,414 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Baidu by 1,377.5% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 5,324,728 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $490,035,000 after purchasing an additional 4,964,350 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Baidu by 0.9% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,361,973 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $125,338,000 after purchasing an additional 11,658 shares during the last quarter. CoreView Capital Management Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Baidu by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. CoreView Capital Management Ltd now owns 1,262,003 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $106,399,000 after purchasing an additional 25,220 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RPD Fund Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Baidu by 161.6% in the second quarter. RPD Fund Management LLC now owns 1,258,856 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $107,959,000 after purchasing an additional 777,570 shares during the last quarter.

Baidu Trading Up 7.8%

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $93.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $89.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.41 and a beta of 0.34.

Baidu Company Profile

Baidu, Inc engages in the provision of internet search services in China. It operates through two segments: Baidu Core and iQIYI. The company offers Baidu App to access search, feed, and other services using mobile devices; Baidu Search to access its search and other services; Baidu Feed that provides users with personalized timeline based on their demographics and interests; Baidu Health that helps users to find the doctor and hospital for healthcare needs; and Haokan, a short video app.