World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: WWE) stock fell -1.13% on Thursday to $85.79 against a previous-day closing price of $86.77. With 0.5 million shares changed hands, the volume of the stock remained lighter than its average volume of 0.9 million shares. During the session, the Entertainment company that operates in wider Communication Services sector, reached to the highest price of $87.04 whereas the lowest price it dropped to was $85.67. The 52-week range on WWE shows that it touched its highest point at $93.63 and its lowest point at $47.71 during that stretch. It currently has a 1-year price target of $94.00. With its current market cap of 6.39 billion, WWE has annualized dividend of $0.48 while the current yield stands at 0.56%. Beta for the stock currently stands at 1.13.
From Robots to Self-Driving Cars: 5 AI Stocks to Consider for Your Portfolio
The artificial intelligence (AI) revolution is already here and it's about to change everything we know about everything. With the global market for AI projected to grow from $137 billion in 2022 to over $1.81 trillion by 2030, there's never been a better time to invest in this burgeoning industry. That's why we've compiled a list of the Top 5 AI Stocks to Buy for 2023. These companies are at the forefront of the AI revolution, and have the potential to deliver huge returns to investors like you.
Get our free report, "Top 5 AI Stocks to Buy for 2023".
Sponsored
Price Performance and Earnings:
Stock performance is one of the indicators that investors use to determine whether they will profit from a stock. The price performance of WWE was down-trending over the past week, with a drop of -3.44%, but this was up by 23.01% over a month. Three-month performance surged to 10.13% while six-month performance rose 25.88%. The stock gained 74.90% in the past year, while it has gained 25.20% so far this year. A look at the trailing 12-month EPS for WWE yields 2.51 with Next year EPS estimates of 2.76. For the next quarter, that number is 0.58. This implies an EPS growth rate of 33.50% for this year and 10.28% for next year. EPS is expected to grow by 17.40% annually over the next five years; however, over the past five years, the company experienced an annual growth rate of 36.80%.
Float and Shares Shorts:
At present, 74.35 million WWE shares are outstanding with a float of 43.00 million shares on hand for trading. On Oct 13, 2022, short shares totaled 8.22 million, which was 11.05% higher than short shares on Sep 14, 2022. In addition to Ms. Stephanie McMahon Levesque as the firm’s Co-CEO, Chairwoman & Chief Brand Officer, Mr. Nick Khan serves as its Co-CEO, Chief Revenue Officer & Director.
Institutional Ownership:
Through their ownership of 121.29% of WWE’s outstanding shares, institutional investors have majority control over the company. Other institutions hold 8.48% of WWE, in contrast to 64.02% held by mutual funds. Shares owned by individuals account for 56.76%. As the largest shareholder in WWE with 18.65% of the stake, Lindsell Train Ltd. holds 8,075,056 shares worth 8,075,056. A second-largest stockholder of WWE, The Vanguard Group, Inc., holds 4,020,543 shares, controlling over 9.29% of the firm’s shares. BlackRock Fund Advisors is the third largest shareholder in WWE, holding 3,518,108 shares or 8.13% stake. With a 8.82% stake in WWE, the Lindsell Train Global Funds Plc – is the largest stakeholder. A total of 3,818,516 shares are owned by the mutual fund manager. The iShares Core S&P Mid Cap ETF, which owns about 3.09% of WWE stock, is the second-largest Mutual Fund holder. It holds 1,335,884 shares valued at 91.53 million. Vanguard Total Stock Market Index holds 3.04% of the stake in WWE, owning 1,315,229 shares worth 90.12 million.
Analysts Ratings:
Reading analyst opinions is an effective way to decide where to invest, and there are several opinions available for WWE since 11 analysts follow the stock currently. There are 6 analysts who recommend BUY ratings, while 0 suggest SELL ratings. Of the remaining analysts, 5 believe that the stock is worth HOLDING, 0 give it an OVERWEIGHT rating, and 0 thinks that it’s UNDERWEIGHT. In the same way, a target price assigned to a stock can also reveal much about its potential. With WWE analysts setting a high price target of $111.00 and a low target of $79.00, the average target price over the next 12 months is $96.60. Based on these targets, WWE could surge 29.39% to reach the target high and fall by -7.91% to reach the target low. Reaching the average price target will result in a growth of 12.6% from current levels.
EPS: Estimates vs Actual
It is also common to use earnings estimates to evaluate a firm’s growth potential and to determine trading strategy. WWE will report FY 2022 earnings on 02/08/2024. Analysts have provided yearly estimates in a range of $2.65 being high and $2.34 being low. For WWE, this leads to a yearly average estimate of $2.46. The earnings surprise of a firm occurs when the actual results change from the consensus earnings estimate. World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. surprised analysts by -$0.01 when it reported $0.49 EPS against a consensus estimate of $0.50. The surprise factor in the prior quarter was $0.01. Based on analyst estimates, the high estimate for the next quarter is $0.65 and the low estimate is $0.53. The average estimate for the next quarter is thus $0.59.
Summary of Insider Activity:
Insiders traded WWE stock several times over the past three months with 1 Buys and 1 Sells. In these transactions, 27,944 shares were bought while 12,950 shares were sold. The number of buy transactions has increased to 36 while that of sell transactions has risen to 15 over the past year. The total number of shares bought during that period was 251,791 while 151,865 shares were sold.
