Discovery Communications (DISCA) Raised to Outperform at Barrington Research

Discovery Communications (NASDAQ:DISCA) was upgraded by analysts at Barrington Research from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm presently has a $30.00 price objective on the stock. Barrington Research’s price target indicates a potential upside of 34.05% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $29.00 target price on shares of Discovery Communications in a research report on Friday, October 20th. Credit Suisse Group raised shares of Discovery Communications from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $23.00 to $22.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 14th. Zacks Investment Research cut shares of Discovery Communications from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 7th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Discovery Communications in a research report on Thursday, October 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank decreased their target price on shares of Discovery Communications from $26.00 to $21.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. The stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $24.50.

Shares of Discovery Communications (NASDAQ DISCA) traded down $0.17 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $22.38. 2,893,200 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,050,333. The stock has a market capitalization of $8,500.00, a P/E ratio of 17.62, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.56. Discovery Communications has a 1-year low of $15.99 and a 1-year high of $30.25. The company has a current ratio of 5.87, a quick ratio of 5.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56.

Discovery Communications (NASDAQ:DISCA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 2nd. The company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. Discovery Communications had a return on equity of 22.24% and a net margin of 16.63%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.47 earnings per share. analysts expect that Discovery Communications will post 1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

In other Discovery Communications news, Director John C. Malone bought 332,523 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 13th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $19.72 per share, for a total transaction of $6,557,353.56. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 671,095 shares in the company, valued at $13,233,993.40. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bruce Campbell sold 3,047 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.17, for a total transaction of $55,363.99. Following the sale, the insider now owns 43,173 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $784,453.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders purchased 527,523 shares of company stock valued at $9,629,104. Insiders own 6.81% of the company’s stock.

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Discovery Communications by 0.7% during the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 18,729,826 shares of the company’s stock valued at $398,758,000 after acquiring an additional 123,603 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Discovery Communications by 5.4% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,661,316 shares of the company’s stock valued at $430,362,000 after acquiring an additional 858,015 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Discovery Communications by 12.2% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 11,966,987 shares of the company’s stock valued at $254,779,000 after acquiring an additional 1,297,175 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Discovery Communications by 2.0% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 9,533,783 shares of the company’s stock valued at $246,259,000 after acquiring an additional 187,781 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Discovery Communications by 5.4% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,346,135 shares of the company’s stock valued at $189,736,000 after acquiring an additional 376,975 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 48.12% of the company’s stock.

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About Discovery Communications

Discovery Communications, Inc (Discovery) is a global media company. The Company provides content across multiple distribution platforms, including pay-television (pay-TV), free-to-air (FTA) and broadcast television, Websites, digital distribution arrangements and content licensing agreements. Its segments include U.S.

Analyst Recommendations for Discovery Communications (NASDAQ:DISCA)