Weiss Ratings Reaffirms Hold (C-) Rating for Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD)

Key Points

• Weiss Ratings has reaffirmed a Hold (C-) rating for Warner Bros. Discovery, indicating a cautious outlook on the stock.
• Warner Bros. Discovery's stock reached $21.15 with a market capitalization of $52.36 billion, showing a trading volume that was below its average.
• Insider selling activity included a significant transaction by CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels, who sold over 530,000 shares for more than $10 million, highlighting potential concerns about corporate confidence.

Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "hold (c-)" rating reiterated by investment analysts at Weiss Ratings in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Weiss Ratings reports.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "hold" rating and issued a $14.00 target price on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. KeyCorp reissued a "sector weight" rating on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Raymond James Financial upped their price objective on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from $13.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Moffett Nathanson increased their target price on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from $14.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, Singular Research upgraded shares of Warner Bros. Discovery to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and sixteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $17.68.

Warner Bros. Discovery Price Performance

WBD traded down $0.10 during trading on Friday, reaching $21.15. The stock had a trading volume of 24,534,811 shares, compared to its average volume of 49,276,563. The business has a 50-day moving average of $16.22 and a 200-day moving average of $12.35. Warner Bros. Discovery has a one year low of $7.49 and a one year high of $21.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. The stock has a market cap of $52.36 billion, a PE ratio of 70.50, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.73.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Bruce Campbell sold 289,322 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at $6,632,606.72. This represents a 41.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels sold 530,793 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.50, for a total transaction of $10,350,463.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 1,141,150 shares of the company's stock, valued at $22,252,425. The trade was a 31.75% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 970,115 shares of company stock valued at $17,818,490 over the last three months. 1.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Warner Bros. Discovery

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of WBD. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Warner Bros. Discovery by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 262,477,555 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,007,993,000 after purchasing an additional 5,657,524 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 0.9% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 60,091,463 shares of the company's stock valued at $685,798,000 after buying an additional 551,548 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 2.8% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 44,574,492 shares of the company's stock valued at $510,824,000 after acquiring an additional 1,233,195 shares in the last quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. lifted its stake in Warner Bros. Discovery by 4.0% in the first quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. now owns 29,555,277 shares of the company's stock worth $317,128,000 after acquiring an additional 1,144,849 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Warner Bros. Discovery in the second quarter valued at $306,848,000. 59.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.

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