Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms Hold Rating for Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD)

Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD)‘s stock had its “hold” rating restated by equities research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $14.00 price objective on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Warner Bros. Discovery from $8.00 to $10.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Wolfe Research raised Warner Bros. Discovery from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Warner Bros. Discovery from $11.00 to $14.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Macquarie raised their target price on Warner Bros. Discovery from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $11.75.

Warner Bros. Discovery Price Performance

Warner Bros. Discovery stock opened at $11.46 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $10.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.11 billion, a PE ratio of -2.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.64 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Warner Bros. Discovery has a 12 month low of $6.64 and a 12 month high of $12.70.

Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported ($0.20) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by ($0.30). Warner Bros. Discovery had a negative net margin of 28.34% and a negative return on equity of 27.56%. The firm had revenue of $10.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.16 billion. Equities analysts predict that Warner Bros. Discovery will post -4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Warner Bros. Discovery

In other news, insider Savalle Sims sold 169,436 shares of Warner Bros. Discovery stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.36, for a total value of $2,094,228.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 599,317 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,407,558.12. This trade represents a 22.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Warner Bros. Discovery by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,579,571 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,281,000 after purchasing an additional 78,653 shares during the period. Hauser Brothers GmbH boosted its position in Warner Bros. Discovery by 56.1% during the 3rd quarter. Hauser Brothers GmbH now owns 1,225,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,106,000 after purchasing an additional 440,000 shares during the period. Private Management Group Inc. boosted its position in Warner Bros. Discovery by 37.7% during the 3rd quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 6,886,143 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,811,000 after purchasing an additional 1,886,868 shares during the period. Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new position in Warner Bros. Discovery during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,474,000. Finally, Blueshift Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Warner Bros. Discovery during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $588,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.