Warner Bros. Discovery Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:WBD)

Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Stock traders acquired 72,338 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 48% compared to the typical daily volume of 48,825 put options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Warner Bros. Discovery

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WBD. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its position in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 15.2% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 409,018 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,442,000 after acquiring an additional 53,909 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 39.9% in the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 423,008 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,594,000 after acquiring an additional 120,586 shares during the period. New South Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Warner Bros. Discovery by 21.1% in the third quarter. New South Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,082,322 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,334,000 after purchasing an additional 711,820 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Warner Bros. Discovery by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 805,597 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,168,000 after purchasing an additional 36,405 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Warner Bros. Discovery in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $105,000. Institutional investors own 59.95% of the company’s stock.

Warner Bros. Discovery Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WBD opened at $8.14 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.86 billion, a PE ratio of -6.36 and a beta of 1.51. Warner Bros. Discovery has a twelve month low of $8.02 and a twelve month high of $14.76. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $8.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $10.08.

Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 23rd. The company reported ($0.16) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.11) by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $10.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.34 billion. Warner Bros. Discovery had a negative return on equity of 3.48% and a negative net margin of 7.57%. Warner Bros. Discovery’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.42 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Warner Bros. Discovery will post -0.35 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on WBD. Macquarie lowered their price objective on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $11.00 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, January 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from $13.00 to $10.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 26th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $20.00 target price on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in a report on Monday, March 4th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $14.24.

About Warner Bros. Discovery

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.