Discovery Communications (DISCA) Downgraded by Pivotal Research to “Hold”

Discovery Communications (NASDAQ:DISCA) was downgraded by Pivotal Research from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Tuesday. They presently have a $25.00 price objective on the stock, down from their prior price objective of $26.00. Pivotal Research’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 11.76% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on DISCA. BidaskClub raised Discovery Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 27th. Wells Fargo & Co restated a “market perform” rating and set a $25.00 target price (up from $18.00) on shares of Discovery Communications in a report on Thursday, January 4th. ValuEngine cut Discovery Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, December 31st. Macquarie upgraded Discovery Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $26.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Finally, Barrington Research upgraded Discovery Communications from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Discovery Communications has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $24.17.

Shares of Discovery Communications (DISCA) traded up $0.37 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $22.37. The company had a trading volume of 4,103,100 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,159,820. The company has a quick ratio of 5.87, a current ratio of 5.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56. The firm has a market cap of $8,240.00, a P/E ratio of 17.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.56. Discovery Communications has a 1 year low of $15.99 and a 1 year high of $30.25.

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

In other Discovery Communications news, insider Bruce Campbell sold 15,976 shares of Discovery Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.50, for a total transaction of $343,484.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 85,298 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,833,907. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels purchased 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 3rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $15.45 per share, for a total transaction of $231,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $772,500. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have purchased 527,523 shares of company stock valued at $9,629,104. 6.81% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DISCA. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its holdings in shares of Discovery Communications by 437.1% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,969 shares of the company’s stock valued at $102,000 after purchasing an additional 3,230 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Discovery Communications by 10.1% in the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,141 shares of the company’s stock valued at $104,000 after purchasing an additional 381 shares during the period. Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Discovery Communications in the third quarter valued at approximately $105,000. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. increased its holdings in shares of Discovery Communications by 5.8% in the first quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 3,915 shares of the company’s stock valued at $106,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares during the period. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank increased its holdings in shares of Discovery Communications by 433.8% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 4,404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $119,000 after purchasing an additional 3,579 shares during the period. 48.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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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)