Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. $WBD Shares Purchased by Arizona State Retirement System

Key Points

• Institutional investors increased their WBD positions: Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings by 5.6% to 675,474 shares valued at approximately $18.0 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 59.95% of the stock.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed: Warner Bros. Discovery has an average “Hold” rating and a consensus price target of $27.69, with ratings ranging from Strong Buy to Sell.
• Financial results were mixed and insiders sold shares: WBD beat quarterly EPS expectations by $0.20 but reported revenue below estimates and an 11.2% year-over-year decline. Insiders sold 2.29 million shares worth approximately $63.7 million during the last quarter.

Arizona State Retirement System boosted its holdings in Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD - Free Report) by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 675,474 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 35,710 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System's holdings in Warner Bros. Discovery were worth $18,008,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Waverly Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 38,349 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,022,000 after purchasing an additional 1,805 shares during the last quarter. Carmignac Gestion increased its stake in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 17.1% during the second quarter. Carmignac Gestion now owns 276,857 shares of the company's stock worth $7,381,000 after acquiring an additional 40,484 shares during the period. Nykredit A S purchased a new position in Warner Bros. Discovery during the second quarter worth about $9,436,000. Amundi lifted its position in Warner Bros. Discovery by 11.2% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 16,324,591 shares of the company's stock valued at $435,214,000 after purchasing an additional 1,640,916 shares during the period. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Warner Bros. Discovery by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 286,042 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,626,000 after purchasing an additional 4,157 shares in the last quarter. 59.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WBD. Seaport Research Partners lowered Warner Bros. Discovery from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Freedom Capital raised shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. Huber Research upgraded shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from an "underweight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Warner Bros. Discovery from a "sell (d-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $27.69.

Warner Bros. Discovery Stock Performance

Shares of WBD opened at $28.12 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 cap of $70.60 billion, a P/E ratio of -22.14 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a 50-day moving average of $27.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $27.25. Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. has a 12-month low of $12.00 and a 12-month high of $30.00.

Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.14) by $0.20. The company had revenue of $8.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.25 billion. Warner Bros. Discovery had a negative net margin of 8.77% and a negative return on equity of 8.91%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.63 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. will post -1.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Gerhard Zeiler sold 591,038 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.05, for a total value of $15,987,577.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 537,436 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,537,643.80. The trade was a 52.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David Zaslav sold 194,999 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.02, for a total transaction of $5,463,871.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 6,807,934 shares in the company, valued at approximately $190,758,310.68. This trade represents a 2.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 2,290,749 shares of company stock worth $63,652,233 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Warner Bros. Discovery Company 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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