Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD)

Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock investors bought 156,472 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 52% compared to the average volume of 103,237 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Warner Bros. Discovery

In other news, CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels sold 222,210 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.50, for a total value of $4,999,725.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 918,940 shares in the company, valued at $20,676,150. The trade was a 19.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Lori C. Locke sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.14, for a total value of $120,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 120,084 shares in the company, valued at $2,898,827.76. This trade represents a 4.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,207,325 shares of company stock valued at $23,174,315. Company insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Concord Wealth Partners grew its holdings in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 49.9% in the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 1,321 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 440 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,559 shares of the company’s stock valued at $304,000 after buying an additional 474 shares during the period. Claro Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 11,591 shares of the company’s stock worth $226,000 after buying an additional 484 shares during the last quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 91,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,785,000 after buying an additional 506 shares during the period. Finally, Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Warner Bros. Discovery by 3.1% in the third quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 16,860 shares of the company’s stock valued at $329,000 after acquiring an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.95% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on WBD. Singular Research raised shares of Warner Bros. Discovery to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Arete lifted their price objective on Warner Bros. Discovery from $24.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in a report on Friday, September 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Warner Bros. Discovery from $21.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Warner Bros. Discovery from $13.00 to $14.75 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Warner Bros. Discovery presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.92.

Warner Bros. Discovery Trading Up 6.3%

Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery stock opened at $26.08 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $21.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.48. The stock has a market cap of $64.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 137.27, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.60. Warner Bros. Discovery has a 1-year low of $7.52 and a 1-year high of $26.10.

Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.06) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $9.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.17 billion. Warner Bros. Discovery had a return on equity of 1.34% and a net margin of 1.28%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.05 EPS. Analysts predict that Warner Bros. Discovery will post -4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Warner Bros. Discovery Company Profile

Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc operates as a media and entertainment company worldwide. It operates through three segments: Studios, Network, and DTC. The Studios segment produces and releases feature films for initial exhibition in theaters; produces and licenses television programs to its networks and third parties and direct-to-consumer services; distributes films and television programs to various third parties and internal television; and offers streaming services and distribution through the home entertainment market, themed experience licensing, and interactive gaming.