Taboola.com (NASDAQ:TBLA) Given “Buy” Rating at Needham & Company LLC

Taboola.com (NASDAQ:TBLA)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by equities researchers at Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $4.00 target price on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price points to a potential upside of 35.14% from the company’s previous close.

TBLA has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Taboola.com in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. B. Riley downgraded shares of Taboola.com from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $5.00 to $4.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Taboola.com from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $5.00 target price on shares of Taboola.com in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, JMP Securities cut their price target on Taboola.com from $6.00 to $5.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Taboola.com has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $4.38.

Taboola.com Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ TBLA opened at $2.96 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $3.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $3.48. The company has a market capitalization of $872.21 million, a PE ratio of -29.60 and a beta of 1.33. Taboola.com has a 12-month low of $2.69 and a 12-month high of $4.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.31 and a quick ratio of 1.31.

Taboola.com announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 22.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Taboola.com

In other news, Director Zvi Limon purchased 168,506 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $2.93 per share, for a total transaction of $493,722.58. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 2,987,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,753,032.19. The trade was a 5.98 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Adam Singolda acquired 60,229 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $2.72 per share, for a total transaction of $163,822.88. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 14,462,943 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,339,204.96. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 22.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Taboola.com

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of TBLA. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Taboola.com by 22.6% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 33,051 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,000 after buying an additional 6,094 shares in the last quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Taboola.com by 9.4% in the 4th quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. now owns 75,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $279,000 after acquiring an additional 6,500 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Taboola.com by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 183,856 shares of the company’s stock valued at $618,000 after acquiring an additional 8,127 shares in the last quarter. Wolverine Trading LLC boosted its position in Taboola.com by 98.4% during the 4th quarter. Wolverine Trading LLC now owns 17,063 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 8,463 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp increased its holdings in Taboola.com by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 305,350 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,026,000 after purchasing an additional 16,055 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.89% of the company’s stock.

About Taboola.com

Taboola.com Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, operates an artificial intelligence-based algorithmic engine platform in Israel, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and internationally. It offers Taboola, a platform that partners with websites, devices, and mobile apps to recommend editorial content and advertisements on the open web to users.