State Street Corp Purchases 934,964 Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. $WBD

Key Points

• State Street increased its Warner Bros. Discovery stake by 934,964 shares in the second quarter, bringing its holdings to 128.36 million shares, or approximately 5.11% of WBD.
• Other institutional investors also raised their positions, and institutional investors collectively own 59.95% of the company. However, insiders sold 2.78 million shares worth about $77.5 million over the past 90 days.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed, with a consensus rating of “Hold” and a $28.34 target price. WBD’s latest quarter beat EPS expectations but missed revenue estimates, with revenue down 11.2% year over year.

State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD - Free Report) by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 128,364,674 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 934,964 shares during the period. State Street Corp owned approximately 5.11% of Warner Bros. Discovery worth $3,422,202,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WBD. HBK Investments L P raised its stake in Warner Bros. Discovery by 15.9% in the 2nd quarter. HBK Investments L P now owns 18,965,932 shares of the company's stock worth $505,632,000 after purchasing an additional 2,604,732 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 11.5% in the second quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 149,171 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,977,000 after buying an additional 15,374 shares during the period. MCF Advisors LLC grew its position in Warner Bros. Discovery by 35.3% during the second quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 2,516 shares of the company's stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 656 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service increased its stake in Warner Bros. Discovery by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 6,792,065 shares of the company's stock worth $181,076,000 after acquiring an additional 229,635 shares during the period. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC increased its stake in Warner Bros. Discovery by 17.7% during the 2nd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 35,326 shares of the company's stock worth $942,000 after acquiring an additional 5,305 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.95% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Warner Bros. Discovery

In other Warner Bros. Discovery news, CEO David Zaslav sold 773,173 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.01, for a total value of $21,656,575.73. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 6,807,934 shares in the company, valued at approximately $190,690,231.34. This trade represents a 10.20% 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. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Gerhard Zeiler sold 591,038 shares of Warner Bros. Discovery stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.05, for a total transaction of $15,987,577.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 537,436 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,537,643.80. This trade represents a 52.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 2,782,149 shares of company stock worth $77,455,972 over the last ninety days. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WBD has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from a "sell (d-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 18th. Seaport Research Partners downgraded shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Barclays started coverage on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in a report on Thursday, September 17th. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $29.00 price target on the stock. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $28.34.

Trending Headlines about Warner Bros. Discovery

Here are the key news stories impacting Warner Bros. Discovery this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Deal certainty is the primary catalyst for WBD. Clearing the states’ antitrust lawsuit reduces the risk of a prolonged court fight or transaction failure and avoids Paramount’s estimated ticking fee of roughly $7 million per day if closing is delayed. CNBC merger settlement report
• Positive Sentiment: The proposed combination would unite Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max with Paramount+, potentially improving streaming scale, reducing customer churn and creating cost and content-distribution synergies. Market pricing indicates investors now view completion as highly likely. Investors.com merger analysis
• Neutral Sentiment: Settlement conditions reportedly include additional domestic production spending, theatrical-release commitments, protections for the Hollywood studio lots, worker funding and oversight provisions involving CBS News and CNN. These terms remove regulatory uncertainty but could limit near-term cost-cutting flexibility. MarketBeat settlement terms
• Negative Sentiment: Employees and industry insiders are bracing for substantial layoffs and internal technology competition after closing, highlighting the difficult integration ahead. The combined company will also carry significant debt, increasing execution and refinancing risk. Business Insider employee impact report
• Negative Sentiment: Critics, including New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, argue the settlement provides insufficient antitrust and job protections. A Department of Justice official characterized the agreement as adding no new antitrust-related commitments, leaving political and regulatory criticism unresolved. Deadline DOJ report

Warner Bros. Discovery Stock Performance

Shares of WBD opened at $30.83 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $77.40 billion, a P/E ratio of -24.28 and a beta of 1.57. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $27.55 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $27.25. Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. has a 12 month low of $17.08 and a 12 month high of $30.92.

Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.14) by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $8.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.25 billion. Warner Bros. Discovery had a negative return on equity of 8.91% and a negative net margin of 8.77%.The company's revenue for the quarter was down 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.63 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. will post -1.08 EPS for the current year.

Warner Bros. Discovery Profile

Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc is a global media and entertainment company that develops, produces and distributes television, film and digital content. Its portfolio includes Warner Bros. film and television studios, HBO, CNN, Discovery, TLC, HGTV, Food Network, TNT Sports and other well-known brands.

The company operates streaming services including Max, which features HBO programming, Warner Bros. films, original series and other entertainment content, and discovery+, which focuses on lifestyle, documentary and nonfiction programming.

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