Weibo (NASDAQ:WB) Shares Gap Down - Should You Sell?

Key Points

• Weibo shares gapped down pre-market (prior close $9.27, opened $8.75) and were last trading around $8.89, roughly down 4.2%.
• In the latest quarter Weibo missed EPS ($0.25 vs. $0.32 expected) though revenue rose 3.6% year-over-year to $473.3 million and beat estimates.
• Analysts' consensus is a Moderate Buy with an average price target of $14.00 while Weiss Ratings reissued a Hold, and the company declared a $0.61 annual dividend (ex-dividend Apr 17).

Weibo Corporation (NASDAQ:WB - Get Free Report) gapped down prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $9.27, but opened at $8.75. Weibo shares last traded at $8.8860, with a volume of 174,269 shares.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Weibo in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $14.00.

Weibo Trading Down 4.2%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 3.35 and a current ratio of 3.39. The company has a market cap of $2.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.23, a P/E/G ratio of 4.80 and a beta of 0.20. The company's fifty day moving average is $9.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $10.29.

Weibo (NASDAQ:WB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 19th. The information services provider reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.32 by ($0.07). Weibo had a net margin of 25.55% and a return on equity of 10.63%. The firm had revenue of $473.26 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $444.28 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.40 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Weibo Corporation will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

Weibo Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared an annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 687.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 17th. Weibo's payout ratio is currently 34.71%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Weibo

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. WealthCollab LLC lifted its holdings in Weibo by 50.1% during the 4th quarter. WealthCollab LLC now owns 5,123 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 1,709 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Weibo during the second quarter worth $61,000. FourThought Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Weibo in the fourth quarter valued at $110,000. Savant Capital LLC purchased a new position in Weibo in the third quarter valued at $153,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Weibo in the first quarter valued at $117,000. 68.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Weibo

Weibo Corporation operates one of China’s leading social media and microblogging platforms under the brand name Weibo. Launched in August 2009 by Sina Corporation, Weibo enables users to create, share and engage with short-form posts in real time. The platform supports text, images, videos and live streams, and offers features such as trending topics, hashtag campaigns and public discussion forums to facilitate user interaction and content discovery.

Weibo’s product suite extends beyond basic social networking to include digital content services such as live streaming, online games, value-added messaging and e-commerce integrations.

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