Taboola.com (NASDAQ:TBLA) Hits New 12-Month Low After Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Taboola.com Ltd. (NASDAQ:TBLA) reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Friday after Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on the stock from $5.00 to $4.00. Needham & Company LLC currently has a buy rating on the stock. Taboola.com traded as low as $2.82 and last traded at $2.82, with a volume of 5026079 shares. The stock had previously closed at $3.09.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. B. Riley cut Taboola.com from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $5.00 to $4.00 in a report on Thursday. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Taboola.com in a report on Wednesday. JMP Securities decreased their price objective on Taboola.com from $6.00 to $5.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Citizens Jmp cut Taboola.com from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $5.00 price objective on shares of Taboola.com in a report on Tuesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Taboola.com currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $4.50.

Insider Activity at Taboola.com

In related news, CEO Adam Singolda acquired 60,229 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $2.72 per share, with a total value of $163,822.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,462,943 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,339,204.96. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Zvi Limon acquired 168,506 shares of the business’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 transaction, the director now directly owns 2,987,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,753,032.19. This trade represents a 5.98 % 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 Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Aigen Investment Management LP purchased a new position in Taboola.com in the third quarter valued at about $63,000. Wolverine Trading LLC raised its position in Taboola.com by 98.4% in the fourth quarter. Wolverine Trading LLC now owns 17,063 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 8,463 shares during the period. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in Taboola.com in the fourth quarter valued at about $68,000. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Taboola.com during the fourth quarter worth about $81,000. Finally, Aquatic Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Taboola.com during the fourth quarter worth about $103,000. 42.89% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Taboola.com Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $797.15 million, a PE ratio of -27.30 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.31 and a quick ratio of 1.31. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $3.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $3.54.

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

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.