Westport Asset Management Inc. Acquires New Shares in Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. $WBD

Westport Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 69,822 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,861,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,123,807,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in the second quarter worth approximately $338,263,000. Duquesne Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in Warner Bros. Discovery in the 2nd quarter worth $74,916,000. Amundi grew its position in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 59.6% during the third quarter. Amundi now owns 15,523,538 shares of the company’s stock worth $296,189,000 after purchasing an additional 5,798,592 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new stake in Warner Bros. Discovery during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $100,135,000. Institutional investors own 59.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WBD has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group raised their price objective on Warner Bros. Discovery from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Seaport Research Partners cut shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Huber Research raised Warner Bros. Discovery from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $27.69.

Warner Bros. Discovery Price Performance

NASDAQ WBD opened at $28.53 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $26.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $27.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The company has a market cap of $71.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -22.46 and a beta of 1.55. Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. has a 1 year low of $11.25 and a 1 year high of $30.00.

Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.14) by $0.20. Warner Bros. Discovery had a negative return on equity of 8.91% and a negative net margin of 8.77%.The firm had revenue of $8.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.25 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.63 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. will post -1.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Fazal F. Merchant sold 71,539 shares of Warner Bros. Discovery stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 33,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $917,609.25. The trade was a 68.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kenneth W. Lowe sold 120,000 shares of Warner Bros. Discovery stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.97, for a total transaction of $3,236,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 990,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,703,212.76. The trade was a 10.81% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 1,750,749 shares of company stock valued at $48,329,633 over the last quarter. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.