World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE) EVP Sells $284,121.09 in Stock

World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:WWE) EVP Casey Collins sold 13,383 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.23, for a total transaction of $284,121.09. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 43,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $932,548.98. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Shares of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE) opened at 21.23 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $20.84 and a 200 day moving average of $20.79. World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.77 and a 1-year high of $23.14. The company has a market cap of $1.64 billion, a PE ratio of 64.73 and a beta of 0.82.

World Wrestling Entertainment (NYSE:WWE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 27th. The company reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter, meeting the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.06. World Wrestling Entertainment had a net margin of 3.29% and a return on equity of 13.07%. The business had revenue of $214.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $209.28 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.01 EPS. World Wrestling Entertainment’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. will post $0.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 15th will be paid a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 14th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.26%. World Wrestling Entertainment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 154.84%.

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A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of World Wrestling Entertainment by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 756,551 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,922,000 after buying an additional 54,238 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of World Wrestling Entertainment by 305.6% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 199,266 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,666,000 after buying an additional 150,137 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in shares of World Wrestling Entertainment by 10.0% in the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 20,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $381,000 after buying an additional 1,880 shares during the period. Teachers Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of World Wrestling Entertainment by 31.1% in the fourth quarter. Teachers Advisors LLC now owns 82,196 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,512,000 after buying an additional 19,482 shares during the period. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its position in shares of World Wrestling Entertainment by 1.3% in the first quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 15,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $349,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.46% of the company’s stock.

A number of research firms have issued reports on WWE. Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of World Wrestling Entertainment from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday. Benchmark Co. restated a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 price target (down from $26.00) on shares of World Wrestling Entertainment in a report on Sunday, July 30th. ValuEngine cut shares of World Wrestling Entertainment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of World Wrestling Entertainment in a report on Friday, June 30th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $23.00 price target for the company. Finally, TheStreet upgraded shares of World Wrestling Entertainment from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. The stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $24.38.

About World Wrestling Entertainment

World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc (WWE) is an integrated media and entertainment company. The Company’s segments are Network, Television, Home Entertainment, Digital Media, Live Events, Licensing, Venue Merchandise, WWEShop, WWE Studios, and Corporate and Other. The Company is engaged in the production and distribution of content through various channels, including its WWE Network, television rights agreements, pay-per-view event programming, live events, feature films, licensing of various WWE themed products, and the sale of consumer products featuring its brands.