Royal Bank of Canada Reduces Position in Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. $WBD

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada reduced its stake in Warner Bros. Discovery by 4.5%, owning approximately 4.67 million shares valued at about $50 million as of the latest SEC filing.
• Warner Bros. Discovery reported a quarterly EPS of $0.63, exceeding analysts' expectations, with revenue totaling $9.81 billion, marking a 1% increase from the previous year.
• Institutional investors collectively own 59.95% of Warner Bros. Discovery's stock, indicating significant interest from these investors.

Royal Bank of Canada decreased its position in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD - Free Report) by 4.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,665,838 shares of the company's stock after selling 221,238 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned 0.19% of Warner Bros. Discovery worth $50,065,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 256,820,031 shares of the company's stock worth $2,755,679,000 after acquiring an additional 4,169,240 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 43,341,297 shares of the company's stock worth $465,052,000 after acquiring an additional 873,869 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 24,672,364 shares of the company's stock worth $264,734,000 after acquiring an additional 1,063,535 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,427,661 shares of the company's stock worth $251,379,000 after buying an additional 430,787 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 21,536,172 shares of the company's stock worth $227,637,000 after buying an additional 139,453 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.95% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. KeyCorp decreased their price objective 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. Barrington Research restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $16.00 price objective on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "hold" rating on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Warner Bros. Discovery from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Warner Bros. Discovery from $9.00 to $13.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. One 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 data from MarketBeat.com, Warner Bros. Discovery has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $13.14.

Warner Bros. Discovery Trading Up 1.4%

NASDAQ:WBD traded up $0.18 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $12.44. 42,927,194 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 47,190,957. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The firm has a market cap of $30.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.42, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.59. Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. has a 52-week low of $6.78 and a 52-week high of $13.86. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $12.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $10.55.

Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.16) by $0.79. Warner Bros. Discovery had a return on equity of 2.14% and a net margin of 2.00%.The business had revenue of $9.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.73 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($4.07) EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. will post -4.33 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Warner Bros. Discovery

In related news, Director Anton J. Levy bought 75,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $11.00 per share, for a total transaction of $825,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 949,000 shares in the company, valued at $10,439,000. This represents a 8.58% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 1.80% of the company's stock.

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.