Evercore ISI Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for WEBTOON Entertainment (NASDAQ:WBTN) Stock

Key Points

• Evercore ISI raised its target price for WEBTOON Entertainment (NASDAQ:WBTN) from $20.00 to $23.00, indicating a potential upside of 145.73% from the current stock price.
• While Evercore maintains an "outperform" rating, other analysts have set target prices lower, with Goldman Sachs lowering their estimate to $11.00 and Morgan Stanley to $10.50.
• WEBTOON Entertainment stock recently traded at $9.36, with a market capitalization of $1.22 billion and significant institutional investments noted in the last quarter.

WEBTOON Entertainment (NASDAQ:WBTN - Get Free Report) had its price target boosted by analysts at Evercore ISI from $20.00 to $23.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "outperform" rating on the stock. Evercore ISI's price target would suggest a potential upside of 50.33% from the company's previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on WEBTOON Entertainment from $13.00 to $10.50 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on WEBTOON Entertainment from $15.00 to $11.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on WEBTOON Entertainment in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $11.00 price target for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $15.43.

WEBTOON Entertainment Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WBTN traded up $0.33 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $15.30. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,126,726 shares, compared to its average volume of 430,960. WEBTOON Entertainment has a 52-week low of $6.75 and a 52-week high of $18.45. The company has a market capitalization of $2.00 billion, a PE ratio of -19.87 and a beta of 1.12. The business's 50-day moving average is $9.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.37.

WEBTOON Entertainment (NASDAQ:WBTN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 12th. The company reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.05. WEBTOON Entertainment had a negative return on equity of 0.13% and a negative net margin of 7.24%. The business had revenue of $348.27 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $341.63 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.20 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that WEBTOON Entertainment will post -0.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of WEBTOON Entertainment

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in WEBTOON Entertainment by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 865,698 shares of the company's stock worth $7,861,000 after purchasing an additional 36,175 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in WEBTOON Entertainment by 966.9% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 823,708 shares of the company's stock worth $7,479,000 after purchasing an additional 746,505 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in WEBTOON Entertainment by 12.3% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 505,892 shares of the company's stock worth $4,594,000 after purchasing an additional 55,434 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in WEBTOON Entertainment by 1,312.2% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 224,887 shares of the company's stock worth $3,054,000 after buying an additional 208,962 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Optimize Financial Inc acquired a new stake in WEBTOON Entertainment in the 1st quarter worth about $1,132,000.

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.