WEBTOON Entertainment (NASDAQ:WBTN) Hits New 52-Week High Following Strong Earnings

Key Points

• WEBTOON Entertainment Inc. shares hit a new 52-week high of $16.31 following an upgrade from Evercore ISI, which raised its price target from $20.00 to $23.00.
• The stock has seen a significant 73.6% increase in value, with a current market cap of $2.12 billion and a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."
• Key institutional investors have shown increased interest, with firms like CWM LLC boosting their stakes by as much as 649.0% during the second quarter.

WEBTOON Entertainment Inc. (NASDAQ:WBTN - Get Free Report)'s share price reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The company traded as high as $15.89 and last traded at $16.31, with a volume of 4999103 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $9.36.

The company reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $348.27 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $341.63 million. WEBTOON Entertainment had a negative return on equity of 0.13% and a negative net margin of 7.24%. The company's revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.20 earnings per share.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WBTN has been the topic of several research reports. Evercore ISI upped their target price on WEBTOON Entertainment from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Wall Street Zen upgraded WEBTOON Entertainment from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on WEBTOON Entertainment from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Citigroup assumed coverage on WEBTOON Entertainment in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $11.00 price objective for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on WEBTOON Entertainment from $11.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $15.43.

Institutional Trading of WEBTOON Entertainment

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WBTN. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of WEBTOON Entertainment by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 414,886 shares of the company's stock worth $5,635,000 after acquiring an additional 2,755 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its stake in WEBTOON Entertainment by 37.8% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 8,168 shares of the company's stock worth $111,000 after purchasing an additional 2,240 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in WEBTOON Entertainment by 355.7% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 51,950 shares of the company's stock worth $705,000 after purchasing an additional 40,550 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in WEBTOON Entertainment by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 128,310 shares of the company's stock worth $1,742,000 after purchasing an additional 8,190 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of WEBTOON Entertainment during the fourth quarter worth $5,033,000.

WEBTOON Entertainment Price Performance

The firm's fifty day moving average price is $9.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.37. The company has a market capitalization of $2.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -19.87 and a beta of 1.12.

About WEBTOON Entertainment

WEBTOON Entertainment Inc operates a storytelling platform worldwide. The company's platform allows a community of creators and users to discover, create, and share new content. Its platform offers stories primarily in two ways, including web-comics, a graphical comic-like medium; and web-novels, which are text-based stories.