Arete Wealth Advisors LLC Takes Position in Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. $WBD

Key Points

• Arete Wealth Advisors LLC has acquired 69,152 shares of Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc., valued at approximately $742,000.
• Director Anton J. Levy purchased 75,000 shares at an average cost of $11.00 per share, increasing his ownership in the company by 8.58%.
• Warner Bros. Discovery's latest earnings report indicated an EPS of $0.63, exceeding analysts' expectations, with revenue of $9.81 billion for the quarter.

Arete Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 69,152 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $742,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. increased its position in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 48.0% during the 1st quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 5,069 shares of the company's stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 1,644 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in Warner Bros. Discovery by 287.1% during the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 530,426 shares of the company's stock worth $5,691,000 after acquiring an additional 393,415 shares during the last quarter. Teza Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Warner Bros. Discovery during the 1st quarter worth about $143,000. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd grew its holdings in Warner Bros. Discovery by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 254,887 shares of the company's stock worth $2,735,000 after acquiring an additional 9,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sessa Capital IM L.P. grew its holdings 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.95% of the company's stock.

Warner Bros. Discovery Trading Up 16.7%

Shares of NASDAQ WBD traded up $2.70 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $18.87. The company's stock had a trading volume of 286,085,213 shares, compared to its average volume of 58,723,604. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $12.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $10.66. Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. has a one year low of $7.25 and a one year high of $19.33. The stock has a market cap of $46.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.16) by $0.79. Warner Bros. Discovery had a net margin of 2.00% and a return on equity of 2.14%. The business had revenue of $9.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.73 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($4.07) EPS. Warner Bros. Discovery's quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. will post -4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WBD has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from $9.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating and set a $18.00 price objective on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in a report on Monday, July 14th. Raymond James Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from $14.00 to $13.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Warner Bros. Discovery to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $13.20.

Insider Activity at Warner Bros. Discovery

In related news, Director Anton J. Levy bought 250,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $10.90 per share, for a total transaction of $2,725,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 874,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,526,600. This represents a 40.06% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bruce Campbell sold 289,322 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.48, for a total transaction of $4,768,026.56. Following the sale, the insider owned 402,464 shares in the company, valued at $6,632,606.72. This trade represents a 41.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.