Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) Cut to “Hold” at Barrington Research

Barrington Research downgraded shares of Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) from an outperform rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from $13.00 to $14.75 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in a report on Monday, December 1st. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in a research note on Friday, September 12th. Benchmark raised their target price on Warner Bros. Discovery from $18.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Raymond James Financial lifted their price target on Warner Bros. Discovery from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.92.

Warner Bros. Discovery Stock Performance

NASDAQ WBD opened at $26.08 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $64.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 137.27, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.60. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $21.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07. Warner Bros. Discovery has a fifty-two week low of $7.52 and a fifty-two week high of $26.10.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Warner Bros. Discovery 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 transaction 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 approximately $20,676,150. The trade was a 19.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Lori C. Locke sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 120,084 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,898,827.76. This trade represents a 4.00% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,207,325 shares of company stock worth $23,174,315. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Warner Bros. Discovery

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 7.1% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 281,214,155 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,492,112,000 after buying an additional 18,736,600 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Warner Bros. Discovery by 0.9% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 60,091,463 shares of the company’s stock worth $685,798,000 after acquiring an additional 551,548 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Warner Bros. Discovery by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 44,574,492 shares of the company’s stock valued at $510,824,000 after acquiring an additional 1,233,195 shares in the last quarter. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in Warner Bros. Discovery by 108.9% in the 3rd quarter. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. now owns 35,095,390 shares of the company’s stock valued at $685,413,000 after acquiring an additional 18,291,865 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sessa Capital IM L.P. lifted its stake in Warner Bros. Discovery by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. now owns 29,555,277 shares of the company’s stock worth $317,128,000 after purchasing an additional 1,144,849 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.95% of the company’s stock.

About Warner Bros. Discovery

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.