Weibo Co. (NASDAQ:WB) Stake Boosted by Northern Trust Corp

Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Weibo Co. (NASDAQ:WB - Free Report) by 61.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 178,201 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 68,023 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned 0.07% of Weibo worth $1,702,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Prudential Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Weibo in the fourth quarter valued at $981,000. Caprock Group LLC bought a new stake in Weibo in the fourth quarter valued at $229,000. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Weibo by 1,003.7% in the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 458,206 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $4,376,000 after buying an additional 416,690 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its stake in Weibo by 24.6% in the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 276,349 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,639,000 after buying an additional 54,600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its stake in Weibo by 525.6% in the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 82,960 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $792,000 after buying an additional 69,699 shares during the last quarter. 68.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Weibo from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Weibo has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $9.75.

Weibo Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WB traded up $0.01 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $9.21. 1,330,124 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,710,352. Weibo Co. has a 52 week low of $7.03 and a 52 week high of $12.40. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $8.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 3.57 and a quick ratio of 3.57. The company has a market cap of $2.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.31 and a beta of 0.01.

Weibo (NASDAQ:WB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 21st. The information services provider reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.07. Weibo had a net margin of 21.30% and a return on equity of 11.03%. The business had revenue of $396.86 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $394.21 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.41 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Weibo Co. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Weibo Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced an annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 9th were issued a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a yield of 7.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 9th. Weibo's payout ratio is currently 57.97%.

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.