Warner Bros. Discovery Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:WBD)

Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD) saw some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors purchased 63,657 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 18% compared to the typical daily volume of 53,930 put options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Warner Bros. Discovery

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Warner Bros. Discovery in the fourth quarter valued at $198,916,000. Boston Partners increased its stake in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 43.0% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 14,225,819 shares of the company’s stock valued at $153,713,000 after purchasing an additional 4,275,994 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Warner Bros. Discovery by 16.6% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 28,184,613 shares of the company’s stock worth $306,085,000 after purchasing an additional 4,016,888 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in Warner Bros. Discovery by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 25,534,218 shares of the company’s stock worth $290,579,000 after purchasing an additional 3,710,343 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 12.1% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 21,823,875 shares of the company’s stock valued at $237,007,000 after buying an additional 2,356,665 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.95% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Warner Bros. Discovery from $14.00 to $10.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Macquarie decreased their price target on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from $13.00 to $10.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 26th. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $11.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $7.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $13.83.

Warner Bros. Discovery Stock Performance

Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery stock traded up $0.11 on Thursday, reaching $7.91. 23,802,916 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 27,364,744. Warner Bros. Discovery has a twelve month low of $7.34 and a twelve month high of $14.76. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $8.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $9.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.09 and a beta of 1.51.

Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 23rd. The company reported ($0.16) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.11) by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $10.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.34 billion. Warner Bros. Discovery had a negative net margin of 7.57% and a negative return on equity of 3.48%. The firm’s revenue was down 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.42 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Warner Bros. Discovery will post -0.35 earnings per share 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.