For Twitter, nothing is going in its favor. Key executives are departing, user growth is not improving, investors are losing confidence, and now its stock has hit a new low. On Thursday, the stock lost over 4% to close at $23.31, which is the lowest close ever for the micro-blogging firm.
Twitter investors want more
As per Yahoo Finance, the stock’s 52-week low is $21.01, but it was hit during intra-day trading in August. But on that day also, the stock closed at $25.17. Though the stock market was weak in general on Thursday, it was a bit extra hard to Twitter. Unlike expectations, the stock has dropped 11% since the appointment of Jack Dorsey as CEO in October.
Last week, news from Twitter that it will finally start monetizing its logged-out audience by showing them ads did push up the stock a bit. But the consistent drop clearly suggests that investors are looking for more.
Hedge funds abandoning Twitter
During the third quarter, J. Goldman & Company lowered its stake in the micro-blogging firm by 96.3%, according to a filing with the SEC. After selling 385,000 shares during the quarter, the hedge fund owned only 15,000 shares of the social media company.
Many institutional investors have also changed their holdings in the company. In the third quarter, Perigon Wealth Management increased its stake in the company by 9.4% and now owns 39,903 shares in Twitter. The wealth management firm bought 3,415 shares in the last quarter. Also ING Groep acquired a new stake in the company worth around $506,000 in the third quarter.
Consensus rating of Hold
Many analysts have updated their verdicts on Twitter in recent months. In a research report on Nov. 4, Zacks Investment Research raised its rating on the stock from Hold to Buy with a price target of $33. Cantor Fitzgerald, in a research report on Sept. 5, reaffirmed its Buy rating on the stock with a price target of $50.
Moffett Nathanson initiated coverage on the micro-blogging firm in a research report on Sept. 8 with a Neutral rating and a $30 price target. In a research report on Sept. 21, SunTrust reaffirmed its Buy rating on the stock with a price target of $38. Presently, Twitter has a consensus rating of Hold.
Year to date, the stock is down by over 35%, while in the last one month, it is down by almost 8%.
