WEBTOON Entertainment (NASDAQ:WBTN) Earns Buy Rating from Analysts at HSBC

HSBC began coverage on shares of WEBTOON Entertainment (NASDAQ:WBTN) in a research note released on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $23.00 price objective on the stock.

WBTN has been the subject of several other research reports. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on WEBTOON Entertainment from $30.00 to $27.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on WEBTOON Entertainment from $62.00 to $55.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on WEBTOON Entertainment in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. They set a neutral rating and a $23.00 price objective for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on WEBTOON Entertainment from $25.00 to $18.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on WEBTOON Entertainment from $23.00 to $17.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $27.17.

WEBTOON Entertainment Stock Performance

Shares of WEBTOON Entertainment stock opened at $12.17 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $16.88. WEBTOON Entertainment has a 12 month low of $11.15 and a 12 month high of $25.66.

WEBTOON Entertainment (NASDAQ:WBTN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.72) by $0.92. The company had revenue of $320.97 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $340.72 million. WEBTOON Entertainment’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.01) earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that WEBTOON Entertainment will post -1.3 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Junkoo Kim purchased 22,596 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 16th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $11.88 per share, with a total value of $268,440.48. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 905,070 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,752,231.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Junkoo Kim purchased 22,596 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 16th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $11.88 per share, with a total value of $268,440.48. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 905,070 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,752,231.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Yongsoo Kim purchased 7,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $12.92 per share, with a total value of $100,776.00. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 110,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,432,957.20. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought a total of 56,526 shares of company stock valued at $710,459 over the last 90 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On WEBTOON Entertainment

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Federated Hermes Inc. bought a new stake in shares of WEBTOON Entertainment in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,145,000. Millennium Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of WEBTOON Entertainment in the 2nd quarter valued at about $18,346,000. Hood River Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of WEBTOON Entertainment in the 2nd quarter valued at about $10,352,000. Ghisallo Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of WEBTOON Entertainment in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,055,000. Finally, Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of WEBTOON Entertainment in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,610,000.

About WEBTOON Entertainment

Our Vision To be the world’s storytelling technology platform empowering creation by anyone, for everyone. WEBTOON is a global storytelling platform where a vibrant community of creators and users discover, create and share new content. We have pioneered a cultural movement by revolutionizing the storytelling format and democratizing content creation and publication.