WEBTOON Entertainment (NASDAQ:WBTN) Reaches New 12-Month High on Earnings Beat

WEBTOON Entertainment Inc. (NASDAQ:WBTN)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock traded as high as $15.89 and last traded at $16.31, with a volume of 4999103 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $9.36.

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 net margin of 7.24% and a negative return on equity of 0.13%. The company had revenue of $348.27 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $341.63 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.20 EPS. WEBTOON Entertainment’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on WBTN shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of WEBTOON Entertainment from $11.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup started coverage on shares of WEBTOON Entertainment in a report on Thursday, May 15th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $11.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of WEBTOON Entertainment from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of WEBTOON Entertainment from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Two 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, WEBTOON Entertainment currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $15.43.

Institutional Trading of WEBTOON Entertainment

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in WBTN. Ameriprise Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of WEBTOON Entertainment in the 4th quarter worth about $5,033,000. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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. Optimize Financial Inc bought a new stake in shares of WEBTOON Entertainment in the 1st quarter worth about $1,132,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of WEBTOON Entertainment in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,271,000. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. bought a new stake in shares of WEBTOON Entertainment in the 4th quarter worth about $1,381,000.

WEBTOON Entertainment Stock Performance

The business’s fifty day moving average price is $9.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.14 billion, a P/E ratio of -21.35 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.