HighTower Advisors LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. $WBD

Key Points

• HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. by 16.2% during the first quarter, now holding shares worth approximately $2.88 million.
• Insider transactions reveal that Director Anton J. Levy purchased 250,000 shares for $2,725,000, increasing his ownership by 40.06%.
• Analysts have provided a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" for Warner Bros. Discovery, with price targets increasing from previous estimates to a current consensus of $13.14.

HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD - Free Report) by 16.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 268,675 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 37,481 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC's holdings in Warner Bros. Discovery were worth $2,883,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its position in Warner Bros. Discovery by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 335,046 shares of the company's stock worth $3,595,000 after purchasing an additional 23,274 shares during the last quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC grew its position in Warner Bros. Discovery by 13.0% during the 1st quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC now owns 40,823 shares of the company's stock worth $438,000 after purchasing an additional 4,689 shares during the last quarter. Staley Capital Advisers Inc. grew its position in Warner Bros. Discovery by 23.1% during the 1st quarter. Staley Capital Advisers Inc. now owns 949,561 shares of the company's stock worth $10,189,000 after purchasing an additional 178,386 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Warner Bros. Discovery during the 1st quarter worth approximately $96,971,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Warner Bros. Discovery by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 43,341,297 shares of the company's stock worth $465,052,000 after purchasing an additional 873,869 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 59.95% of the company's stock.

Warner Bros. Discovery Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WBD traded down $0.24 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $11.80. The company's stock had a trading volume of 57,911,765 shares, compared to its average volume of 46,805,738. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $11.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $10.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. has a 1-year low of $6.78 and a 1-year high of $13.86.

Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD - Get Free Report) last issued 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. The business had revenue of $9.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.73 billion. Warner Bros. Discovery had a net margin of 2.00% and a return on equity of 2.14%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($4.07) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. will post -4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Warner Bros. Discovery

In other Warner Bros. Discovery news, Director Anton J. Levy bought 75,000 shares of Warner Bros. Discovery stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $11.00 per share, for a total transaction of $825,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 949,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,439,000. This represents a 8.58% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on WBD shares. KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from $18.00 to $16.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Benchmark reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $18.00 price objective on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in a report on Monday, July 14th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, Huber Research raised shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from a "strong sell" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, June 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $13.14.

Warner Bros. Discovery 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.