Analysts Set Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD) PT at $27.69

Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the twenty-three research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $27.6912.

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on WBD. Freedom Capital raised shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Seaport Research Partners cut shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Zacks Research upgraded Warner Bros. Discovery from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. Weiss Ratings raised Warner Bros. Discovery from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 18th. Finally, Huber Research raised Warner Bros. Discovery from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st.

Warner Bros. Discovery Stock Performance

Warner Bros. Discovery stock opened at $28.25 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $70.93 billion, a PE ratio of -22.24 and a beta of 1.57. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $27.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.25. Warner Bros. Discovery has a 52 week low of $11.77 and a 52 week high of $30.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90.

Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.14) by $0.20. Warner Bros. Discovery had a negative net margin of 8.77% and a negative return on equity of 8.91%. The firm had revenue of $8.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.63 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Warner Bros. Discovery will post -1.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Fazal F. Merchant sold 71,539 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.75, for a total transaction of $1,985,207.25. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 33,067 shares in the company, valued at $917,609.25. This represents a 68.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Gerhard Zeiler sold 591,038 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.05, for a total transaction of $15,987,577.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 537,436 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,537,643.80. The trade was a 52.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 1,950,749 shares of company stock valued at $53,999,633 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in Warner Bros. Discovery by 111.2% during the second quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 942 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 496 shares during the last quarter. Field & Main Bank purchased a new position in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Swiss RE Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 64.3% in the 2nd quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,009 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 395 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Archer Investment Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery during the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. 59.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Warner Bros. Discovery Company Profile

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.