Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Acquires 24,000 Shares of Weibo Co. (NASDAQ:WB)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Weibo Co. (NASDAQ:WB) by 13.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 203,584 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 24,000 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. owned 0.09% of Weibo worth $2,229,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Weibo by 212.9% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Weibo by 38.2% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP bought a new stake in shares of Weibo in the 3rd quarter worth about $828,000. Profund Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Weibo in the 3rd quarter worth about $133,000. Finally, Krane Funds Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Weibo by 14.4% in the 3rd quarter. Krane Funds Advisors LLC now owns 3,188,994 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $39,990,000 after acquiring an additional 401,004 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.77% of the company’s stock.

Weibo Trading Up 4.9 %

WB stock opened at $8.53 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 2.38. The company has a market capitalization of $2.00 billion, a PE ratio of 6.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.44. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $8.94 and its 200 day moving average is $9.94. Weibo Co. has a 12 month low of $7.58 and a 12 month high of $18.10.

Weibo (NASDAQ:WB) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The information services provider reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.14). The business had revenue of $463.67 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $452.30 million. Weibo had a net margin of 19.47% and a return on equity of 10.77%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Weibo Co. will post 1.64 EPS for the current year.

Weibo Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a — dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 12th will be given a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 11th.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WB has been the subject of several analyst reports. HSBC lowered their target price on shares of Weibo from $13.60 to $9.80 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 15th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Weibo from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $12.90 to $11.50 in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $10.60 price target on shares of Weibo in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Weibo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded shares of Weibo from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $19.50 to $10.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Weibo currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $11.98.

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.