Warner Bros. Discovery Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:WBD)

Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock investors purchased 156,472 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 52% compared to the average daily volume of 103,237 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on WBD shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Warner Bros. Discovery from $21.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Warner Bros. Discovery from $14.00 to $22.00 in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Redburn Partners set a $28.00 target price on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Rothschild Redb upgraded shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.92.

Insider Transactions at Warner Bros. Discovery

In other Warner Bros. Discovery news, insider Bruce Campbell sold 289,322 shares of Warner Bros. Discovery stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.48, for a total transaction of $4,768,026.56. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 402,464 shares in the company, valued at $6,632,606.72. The trade was a 41.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels sold 530,793 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.50, for a total transaction of $10,350,463.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 1,141,150 shares in the company, valued at $22,252,425. The trade was a 31.75% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,202,325 shares of company stock valued at $23,053,615. 1.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WBD. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Warner Bros. Discovery by 304.9% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 68,950 shares of the company’s stock worth $729,000 after purchasing an additional 51,920 shares in the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 20.4% during the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 46,840 shares of the company’s stock valued at $503,000 after buying an additional 7,952 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 8.2% in the 1st quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 1,076,134 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,547,000 after buying an additional 81,815 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 25.5% during the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 40,314 shares of the company’s stock valued at $433,000 after purchasing an additional 8,196 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 68.4% during the first quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 489,923 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,257,000 after purchasing an additional 198,917 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.95% of the company’s stock.

Warner Bros. Discovery Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of WBD traded down $0.36 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $24.22. 26,982,706 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 47,796,449. Warner Bros. Discovery has a 12 month low of $7.52 and a 12 month high of $24.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $21.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $15.29. The company has a market capitalization of $60.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 127.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.60.

Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $9.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.17 billion. Warner Bros. Discovery had a return on equity of 1.34% and a net margin of 1.28%.Warner Bros. Discovery’s quarterly revenue was down 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.05 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Warner Bros. Discovery will post -4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.