WEBTOON Entertainment Inc. (NASDAQ:WBTN) Short Interest Up 71.5% in September

WEBTOON Entertainment Inc. (NASDAQ:WBTN) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 2,350,000 shares, an increase of 71.5% from the September 15th total of 1,370,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 471,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.0 days. Currently, 16.0% of the shares of the company are sold short.

WEBTOON Entertainment Trading Down 1.8 %

WEBTOON Entertainment stock opened at $11.23 on Monday. WEBTOON Entertainment has a 52 week low of $10.22 and a 52 week high of $25.66. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $12.60.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Namsun Kim purchased 7,195 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was purchased at an average price of $13.90 per share, with a total value of $100,010.50. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 7,195 shares in the company, valued at approximately $100,010.50. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other WEBTOON Entertainment news, Director Namsun Kim purchased 7,195 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $13.90 per share, for a total transaction of $100,010.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 7,195 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $100,010.50. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Junkoo Kim acquired 22,596 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 16th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $11.88 per share, with a total value of $268,440.48. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 905,070 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,752,231.60. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 56,526 shares of company stock valued at $710,459 over the last three months.

Institutional Trading of WEBTOON Entertainment

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sandia Investment Management LP acquired a new position in WEBTOON Entertainment during the 2nd quarter worth $114,000. WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new stake in shares of WEBTOON Entertainment during the second quarter worth $413,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of WEBTOON Entertainment during the second quarter valued at $816,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new position in WEBTOON Entertainment in the second quarter valued at about $1,256,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in WEBTOON Entertainment in the second quarter valued at about $1,516,000.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on WBTN shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on WEBTOON Entertainment from $25.00 to $18.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 12th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on WEBTOON Entertainment from $30.00 to $27.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on WEBTOON Entertainment in a report on Monday, July 22nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $23.00 price objective for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of WEBTOON Entertainment from $62.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of WEBTOON Entertainment from $23.00 to $17.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $27.17.

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.