Warner Bros. Discovery Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:WBD)

Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD) was the target of unusually large options trading on Monday. Investors purchased 123,399 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 93% compared to the typical daily volume of 64,011 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group boosted 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. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Seaport Research Partners raised shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $31.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, June 29th. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $27.04.

Warner Bros. Discovery Price Performance

Warner Bros. Discovery stock traded up $0.85 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $27.44. 28,251,283 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 22,872,156. The firm has a market cap of $68.79 billion, a P/E ratio of -39.15 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $26.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $27.55. Warner Bros. Discovery has a 1-year low of $10.76 and a 1-year high of $30.00.

Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported ($1.17) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.10) by ($1.07). The company had revenue of $8.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 company’s revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.18) earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Warner Bros. Discovery will post -1.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Warner Bros. Discovery

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Warner Bros. Discovery by 304.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 68,950 shares of the company’s stock worth $729,000 after purchasing an additional 51,920 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 50.5% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 63,254 shares of the company’s stock worth $679,000 after buying an additional 21,228 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 6.2% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 65,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $698,000 after buying an additional 3,779 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth increased its position in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 91.6% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 116,821 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,254,000 after acquiring an additional 55,837 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 3.8% in the second quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 111,450 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,277,000 after acquiring an additional 4,062 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 59.95% of the company’s stock.

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.