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

Weibo Co. (NASDAQ:WB - Get Free Report) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock investors bought 9,305 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 391% compared to the average daily volume of 1,896 call options.

Institutional Trading of Weibo

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. ARGA Investment Management LP grew its position in Weibo by 14.5% in the fourth quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 6,825,571 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $74,740,000 after acquiring an additional 864,120 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in shares of Weibo by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 5,290,626 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $57,932,000 after purchasing an additional 179,482 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG grew its holdings in Weibo by 149.2% during the 1st quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 5,059,287 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $124,002,000 after acquiring an additional 3,029,114 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in Weibo by 10.1% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,716,600 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $74,555,000 after acquiring an additional 340,154 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Krane Funds Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Weibo by 14.4% during the third quarter. Krane Funds Advisors LLC now owns 3,188,994 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $39,990,000 after purchasing an additional 401,004 shares during the period. 68.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Weibo Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of WB traded up $0.07 on Thursday, hitting $8.20. 2,127,550 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,305,019. The company has a quick ratio of 2.38, a current ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.44. The stock's 50 day moving average is $9.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $10.22. Weibo has a 1 year low of $7.84 and a 1 year high of $18.10.

Weibo (NASDAQ:WB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 14th. The information services provider reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.14). The business had revenue of $463.67 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $452.30 million. Weibo had a return on equity of 10.77% and a net margin of 19.47%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Weibo will post 1.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Weibo Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a -- dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 13th. Investors of record on Friday, April 12th will be given a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 11th.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on WB. HSBC dropped their target price on Weibo from $13.60 to $9.80 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Bank of America lowered shares of Weibo from a "buy" rating to an "underperform" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $19.50 to $10.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $10.60 price target on shares of Weibo in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Weibo from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $12.90 to $11.50 in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Weibo from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average 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.