Investors Buy High Volume of Warner Bros. Discovery Put Options (NASDAQ:WBD)

Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD) saw unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock investors acquired 63,657 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 18% compared to the typical daily volume of 53,930 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on WBD. Barrington Research dropped their target price on Warner Bros. Discovery from $18.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 26th. Macquarie reduced their price objective on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $16.00 to $12.00 in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $7.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised Warner Bros. Discovery from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $7.00 to $10.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $13.83.

Warner Bros. Discovery Stock Up 3.1 %

Shares of WBD opened at $8.04 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $8.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. Warner Bros. Discovery has a 52 week low of $7.34 and a 52 week high of $14.76. The company has a market capitalization of $19.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.28 and a beta of 1.51.

Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 23rd. The company reported ($0.16) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.11) by ($0.05). Warner Bros. Discovery had a negative net margin of 7.57% and a negative return on equity of 3.48%. The firm had revenue of $10.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.34 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.42 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Warner Bros. Discovery will post -0.35 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Warner Bros. Discovery

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fortis Group Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Peoples Bank KS acquired a new position in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Pacifica Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 118.2% during the 4th quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 2,483 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 1,345 shares during the period. Milestone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in the third quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Headinvest LLC purchased a new stake in Warner Bros. Discovery in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.95% of the company’s stock.

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.