Legal & General Group Plc Has $433.60 Million Position in Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. $WBD

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc increased its Warner Bros. Discovery stake by 5.3% in the fourth quarter, ending with 15.0 million shares valued at about $433.6 million.
• Institutional ownership remains high, with hedge funds and other investors holding 59.95% of the company’s stock. Several large firms, including Vanguard and Jericho Capital, also boosted their positions.
• Insider selling was significant: CEO David Zaslav sold 4.0 million shares and insider Gerhard Zeiler sold 600,000 shares, while analysts currently rate WBD a Hold with an average price target of $26.36.

Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD - Free Report) by 5.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 15,045,260 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 759,407 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.61% of Warner Bros. Discovery worth $433,604,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 283,180,433 shares of the company's stock worth $8,161,260,000 after purchasing an additional 1,966,278 shares during the period. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 108.9% during the third quarter. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. now owns 35,095,390 shares of the company's stock worth $685,413,000 after purchasing an additional 18,291,865 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 3.9% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,496,725 shares of the company's stock worth $458,891,000 after purchasing an additional 876,869 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 9.7% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 18,820,858 shares of the company's stock worth $367,417,000 after purchasing an additional 1,658,317 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi boosted its holdings 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 during the period. 59.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Gerhard Zeiler sold 600,000 shares of Warner Bros. Discovery stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.02, for a total value of $16,812,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 672,649 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,847,624.98. This trade represents a 47.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David Zaslav sold 4,004,149 shares of Warner Bros. Discovery stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.26, for a total transaction of $113,157,250.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 7,200,627 shares in the company, valued at approximately $203,489,719.02. This represents a 35.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 8,206,827 shares of company stock valued at $230,674,025. 1.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on WBD. Benchmark restated a "hold" rating on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in a report on Friday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in a report on Monday, March 9th. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $31.00 price target for the company. Raymond James Financial reiterated an "underperform" rating on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Arete Research reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $31.25 target price on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Finally, KeyCorp reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in a research note on Friday, April 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $26.36.

Warner Bros. Discovery Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WBD opened at $27.03 on Tuesday. Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. has a 12 month low of $8.84 and a 12 month high of $30.00. The firm has a market cap of $67.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -38.61 and a beta of 1.57. 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 company's 50 day moving average is $27.25 and its 200-day moving average is $27.16.

Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported ($1.17) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.10) by ($1.07). Warner Bros. Discovery had a negative net margin of 4.67% and a negative return on equity of 4.77%. The firm had revenue of $8.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.89 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.18) EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. will post -0.71 EPS for the current year.

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.

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