Benchmark Has Lowered Expectations for Taboola.com (NASDAQ:TBLA) Stock Price

Taboola.com (NASDAQ:TBLA) had its price objective reduced by Benchmark from $4.50 to $4.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Benchmark currently has a buy rating on the stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Citizens Jmp cut shares of Taboola.com from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. JMP Securities cut their price objective 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. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $4.00 target price on shares of Taboola.com in a report on Thursday, March 27th. B. Riley raised shares of Taboola.com from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $4.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Taboola.com in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Taboola.com presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $4.25.

Taboola.com Price Performance

NASDAQ TBLA opened at $3.34 on Thursday. Taboola.com has a one year low of $2.50 and a one year high of $4.47. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $2.91 and a 200 day moving average of $3.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a current ratio of 1.31. The company has a market capitalization of $1.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -33.40 and a beta of 1.21.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Adam Singolda bought 60,229 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $2.72 per share, for a total transaction of $163,822.88. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 14,462,943 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,339,204.96. The trade was a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Zvi Limon acquired 168,506 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $2.93 per share, with a total value of $493,722.58. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 24.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TBLA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Taboola.com by 54.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 727,181 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,443,000 after purchasing an additional 257,009 shares during the last quarter. Yelin Lapidot Holdings Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Taboola.com during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,724,000. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of Taboola.com by 410.5% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 512,422 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,870,000 after purchasing an additional 412,042 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its holdings in Taboola.com by 61.5% in the 4th quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 55,863 shares of the company’s stock worth $204,000 after purchasing an additional 21,281 shares during the period. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in Taboola.com during the fourth quarter worth approximately $81,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.89% of the company’s stock.

Taboola.com Company Profile

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.