WEBTOON Entertainment (NASDAQ:WBTN) Stock Rating Lowered by HSBC

WEBTOON Entertainment (NASDAQ:WBTN) was downgraded by stock analysts at HSBC from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Wednesday. They currently have a $11.50 price target on the stock. HSBC’s price objective points to a potential downside of 0.17% from the stock’s previous close.

WBTN has been the subject of several other research reports. Evercore decreased their target price on shares of WEBTOON Entertainment from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Zacks Research lowered shares of WEBTOON Entertainment from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of WEBTOON Entertainment in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. UBS Group lowered WEBTOON Entertainment from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of WEBTOON Entertainment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $16.50.

WEBTOON Entertainment Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of WBTN stock opened at $11.52 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.51 billion, a PE ratio of -11.41 and a beta of 1.94. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $12.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $14.63. WEBTOON Entertainment has a 52 week low of $6.75 and a 52 week high of $22.47.

WEBTOON Entertainment (NASDAQ:WBTN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 3rd. The company reported ($2.86) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by ($2.82). WEBTOON Entertainment had a negative net margin of 9.28% and a negative return on equity of 2.14%. The firm had revenue of $330.69 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $336.77 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.03) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that WEBTOON Entertainment will post -0.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On WEBTOON Entertainment

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of WEBTOON Entertainment in the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue purchased a new stake in shares of WEBTOON Entertainment during the third quarter valued at $55,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in shares of WEBTOON Entertainment by 103.4% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 3,548 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 1,804 shares during the period. Chung Wu Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in WEBTOON Entertainment during the third quarter valued at $78,000. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its holdings in shares of WEBTOON Entertainment by 649.0% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 4,050 shares during the period.

About WEBTOON Entertainment

Webtoon Entertainment Inc operates WEBTOON, a leading digital comics platform offering a diverse library of user-generated and professionally produced webcomics. The company enables creators around the world to publish serialized content in a vertical-scrolling format optimized for mobile and web consumption. Through its platform, readers can access thousands of titles across genres such as romance, fantasy, drama, and action, with both free-to-read episodes and advanced access options supported by microtransactions and advertising.

Founded as part of Naver Corporation and launched internationally in 2014, Webtoon Entertainment has grown rapidly by fostering a direct connection between comic creators and global audiences.