Anton Levy Sells 340,000 Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) Stock

Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD) Director Anton Levy sold 340,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.39, for a total transaction of $9,652,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 618,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,546,922.13. This trade represents a 35.49% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Warner Bros. Discovery Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WBD opened at $27.91 on Thursday. Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. has a twelve month low of $12.00 and a twelve month high of $30.00. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $27.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $27.24. The company has a market capitalization of $70.07 billion, a PE ratio of -21.98 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Huber Research upgraded Warner Bros. Discovery from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 18th. Zacks Research raised shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. Finally, Seaport Research Partners lowered shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.69.

Institutional Trading of Warner Bros. Discovery

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Swiss RE Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC increased its holdings in Warner Bros. Discovery by 111.2% in the 2nd 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 bought a new stake in Warner Bros. Discovery in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Fideuram Asset Management Ireland dac purchased a new stake in Warner Bros. Discovery during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Elevation Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Warner Bros. Discovery by 64.3% during the second 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 during the last quarter. 59.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Warner Bros. Discovery News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Paramount Skydance says the merger is ready to close and continues seeking protection against costs associated with legal delays. If the transaction proceeds, investors could benefit from expected scale and cost synergies in the combined media company. Paramount Skydance Moves to Protect Against Costs of Delay as WBD Merger Is Ready to Close
• Neutral Sentiment: The merger is entering a more detailed court-deliberation phase. That could clarify the timeline, but the articles do not indicate whether the court will approve or block the transaction, leaving the stock highly sensitive to future legal developments. Now comes the record: The Paramount-WBD deal finally gets the deliberation it’s owed
• Negative Sentiment: Paramount repeated its demand that the states and Writers Guild of America post a $1.88 billion bond if their lawsuit delays the merger. Paramount also accused California Attorney General Rob Bonta of making statements that weaken his bond-related arguments. The dispute highlights continued regulatory and litigation risk that could postpone or jeopardize closing. Paramount says California AG contradicted bond arguments in TV interviews
• Negative Sentiment: WBD Director Anton Levy sold 340,000 shares for approximately $9.65 million, reducing his ownership by 35.49%. Although insider sales can be planned for personal or diversification reasons, the size of the transaction may weigh on sentiment. Warner Bros. Discovery director insider sale filing

About Warner Bros. Discovery

Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc is a global media and entertainment company that develops, produces and distributes television, film and digital content. Its portfolio includes Warner Bros. film and television studios, HBO, CNN, Discovery, TLC, HGTV, Food Network, TNT Sports and other well-known brands.

The company operates streaming services including Max, which features HBO programming, Warner Bros. films, original series and other entertainment content, and discovery+, which focuses on lifestyle, documentary and nonfiction programming.