Northern Trust Corp Raises Stock Position in Weibo Co. (NASDAQ:WB)

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

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Weibo by 155.2% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,700 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 1,642 shares during the period. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Weibo during the fourth quarter valued at about $70,000. PARUS FINANCE UK Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Weibo during the fourth quarter valued at about $99,000. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Weibo during the fourth quarter valued at about $117,000. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado purchased a new position in shares of Weibo during the fourth quarter valued at about $133,000. 68.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Weibo Stock Down 2.0%

WB traded down $0.18 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $9.03. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,194,399 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,704,969. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.18 and a beta of 0.01. The company has a current ratio of 3.57, a quick ratio of 3.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. Weibo Co. has a 1 year low of $7.03 and a 1 year high of $12.40. The stock's 50-day moving average is $8.50 and its 200-day moving average is $9.46.

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

Weibo Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Weibo from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $9.75.

Weibo 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.