Voya Investment Management LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. $WBD

Key Points

• Voya Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Warner Bros. Discovery by 34.9%, now owning over 7 million shares valued at approximately $75.5 million.
• Insider trading activity included Director Anton J. Levy purchasing 75,000 shares at $11.00 each, while insider Bruce Campbell sold 150,000 shares at $18.00, reflecting significant changes in ownership.
• Warner Bros. Discovery's stock is up 16.7%, with a market cap of $46.72 billion and reported earnings beating analyst expectations.

Voya Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD - Free Report) by 34.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,035,842 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,820,249 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC owned about 0.29% of Warner Bros. Discovery worth $75,495,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. purchased a new stake in Warner Bros. Discovery during the fourth quarter valued at about $4,914,000. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. bought a new position in Warner Bros. Discovery in the fourth quarter worth about $3,022,000. Hi Line Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 17.8% during the first quarter. Hi Line Capital Management LLC now owns 597,478 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,411,000 after purchasing an additional 90,462 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 682.8% during the first quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 7,145,308 shares of the company's stock valued at $76,669,000 after purchasing an additional 6,232,561 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dupree Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery during the first quarter valued at approximately $2,884,000. 59.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on WBD. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating and set a $18.00 price target on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in a research report on Monday, July 14th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Barrington Research restated an "outperform" rating and set a $16.00 price objective on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. 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 research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Warner Bros. Discovery to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $13.20.

Warner Bros. Discovery Price Performance

Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery stock traded up $0.59 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $19.46. The company's stock had a trading volume of 106,697,043 shares, compared to its average volume of 71,001,016. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $12.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $10.71. Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. has a one year low of $7.25 and a one year high of $19.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The stock has a market cap of $48.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 64.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.59.

Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $9.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($4.07) EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. will post -4.33 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Anton J. Levy acquired 250,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $10.90 per share, with a total value of $2,725,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 874,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,526,600. This represents a 40.06% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bruce Campbell sold 289,322 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.48, for a total transaction of $4,768,026.56. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 402,464 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company's stock.

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.