KE (NYSE:BEKE) Shares Gap Up – Here’s Why

KE Holdings Inc. Sponsored ADR (NYSE:BEKE) shares gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $17.02, but opened at $17.57. KE shares last traded at $17.5450, with a volume of 1,302,881 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on BEKE. Barclays dropped their price target on KE from $33.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 15th. UBS Group cut shares of KE from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $19.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group set a $22.00 price objective on shares of KE and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. Wall Street Zen cut KE from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, November 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of KE in a research note on Monday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, KE has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.30.

KE Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $20.00 billion, a PE ratio of 41.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of -0.65. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $17.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $18.22.

Institutional Trading of KE

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of KE by 3.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,331,813 shares of the company’s stock worth $508,916,000 after purchasing an additional 919,420 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in KE by 19.0% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,282,576 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,767,000 after buying an additional 205,205 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in KE by 10.4% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,781,848 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,797,000 after acquiring an additional 168,328 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of KE by 47.3% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 813,245 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,338,000 after acquiring an additional 261,309 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of KE during the first quarter valued at approximately $81,473,000. 39.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

KE Company Profile

KE Holdings Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in operating an integrated online and offline platform for housing transactions and services in the People's Republic of China. It operates through four segments: Existing Home Transaction Services, New Home Transaction Services, Home Renovation and Furnishing, and Emerging and Other Services.