California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 79,855 Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. $WBD

California Public Employees Retirement System decreased its holdings in Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD) by 2.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,938,685 shares of the company’s stock after selling 79,855 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Warner Bros. Discovery were worth $108,156,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Main Street Group LTD purchased a new position in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery during the first quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Angeles Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Warner Bros. Discovery by 9.7% during the first quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,304 shares of the company’s stock valued at $310,000 after purchasing an additional 1,002 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Warner Bros. Discovery by 2.8% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 42,089 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,154,000 after purchasing an additional 1,137 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Warner Bros. Discovery by 2.4% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 119,093 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,274,000 after purchasing an additional 2,767 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Independent Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Warner Bros. Discovery in the 1st quarter worth approximately $436,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.95% of the company’s stock.

Key Warner Bros. Discovery News

Here are the key news stories impacting Warner Bros. Discovery this week:

• Negative Sentiment: A federal judge will rule by July 22 on California’s request to temporarily freeze Paramount’s $111 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, increasing the risk of a near-term delay to the deal. Judge delays ruling on California’s bid to freeze Paramount’s $111B takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery
• Negative Sentiment: California and 11 other Democratic state attorneys general are pushing an antitrust case to pause the merger, and media reports suggest Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount may have to delay closing while the legal fight plays out. Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) Faces State Lawsuit Over $110 Billion Merger Pause
• Neutral Sentiment: Paramount has publicly argued the states’ antitrust case is unusually weak, but that defense does not remove the immediate legal uncertainty around the transaction. Paramount Calls the States’ Antitrust Case Against Warner Bros. Merger ‘One of the Weakest’ in Modern History
• Neutral Sentiment: Several shareholder lawsuits and related responses have added more headlines, but these appear secondary to the main issue: whether regulators or the court will block or delay the deal. Paramount and Warner Bros expect a delay in closing the deal

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Seaport Research Partners upgraded shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $31.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Huber Research upgraded Warner Bros. Discovery from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Zacks Research raised Warner Bros. Discovery from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Weiss Ratings cut Warner Bros. Discovery from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in a report on Friday, April 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Warner Bros. Discovery currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.04.

Warner Bros. Discovery Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WBD opened at $26.87 on Friday. Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. has a 12-month low of $10.76 and a 12-month high of $30.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $67.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -38.39 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $26.85 and a 200 day moving average of $27.49.

Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported ($1.17) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.10) by ($1.07). The business had revenue of $8.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.89 billion. Warner Bros. Discovery had a negative return on equity of 4.77% and a negative net margin of 4.67%.The firm’s revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.18) earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. will post -1.07 earnings per share for the current year.

About Warner Bros. Discovery

Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ: WBD) is a global media and entertainment company formed when WarnerMedia and Discovery, Inc combined their businesses in 2022. Headquartered in New York City, the company assembles a broad portfolio of film and television production, linear and cable networks, streaming services and consumer distribution operations. Its assets span well-known studio brands, premium scripted and unscripted programming, news and factual entertainment, and licensed franchise properties.

The company’s core activities include film and television production and distribution through units such as Warner Bros.