Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) Reaches New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $22.57 and last traded at $22.5840, with a volume of 31998796 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $22.29.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on WBD shares. Arete boosted their target price on Warner Bros. Discovery from $24.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Arete Research upgraded Warner Bros. Discovery to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Argus set a $27.00 price objective on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Redburn Partners set a $28.00 target price on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from $14.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and fifteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $19.91.

Warner Bros. Discovery Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. The stock has a market cap of $55.95 billion, a PE ratio of 75.34, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.73. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $17.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $13.09.

Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.16) by $0.79. Warner Bros. Discovery had a return on equity of 2.14% and a net margin of 2.00%.The business had revenue of $9.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.73 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($4.07) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. will post -4.33 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Warner Bros. Discovery

In related news, CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels sold 530,793 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 1,141,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,252,425. This trade represents a 31.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Bruce Campbell sold 289,322 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.48, for a total value of $4,768,026.56. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 402,464 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,632,606.72. This represents a 41.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,192,325 shares of company stock valued at $22,818,215. Corporate insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Warner Bros. Discovery

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 262,477,555 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,007,993,000 after buying an additional 5,657,524 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 60,091,463 shares of the company’s stock valued at $685,798,000 after buying an additional 551,548 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Warner Bros. Discovery by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 44,574,492 shares of the company’s stock worth $510,824,000 after acquiring an additional 1,233,195 shares during the last quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. grew its position in Warner Bros. Discovery by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. now owns 29,555,277 shares of the company’s stock worth $317,128,000 after acquiring an additional 1,144,849 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Warner Bros. Discovery during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $306,848,000. 59.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Warner Bros. Discovery Company Profile

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.