Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 80,050,000 shares, a decrease of 15.5% from the December 15th total of 94,760,000 shares. Approximately 3.6% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 29,470,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.7 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on WBD shares. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Warner Bros. Discovery from $9.50 to $10.75 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Wolfe Research raised Warner Bros. Discovery from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Warner Bros. Discovery from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from $9.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $11.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Trading of Warner Bros. Discovery

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WBD. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 4.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 151,285,963 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,248,109,000 after purchasing an additional 5,898,611 shares in the last quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 24.7% during the third quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. now owns 28,410,428 shares of the company’s stock valued at $234,386,000 after purchasing an additional 5,625,545 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 1,216.7% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 3,009,558 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,391,000 after buying an additional 2,780,986 shares during the period. Drexel Morgan & Co. lifted its holdings in Warner Bros. Discovery by 43.5% in the third quarter. Drexel Morgan & Co. now owns 6,600,463 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,454,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000,000 shares during the period. Finally, Clifford Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Warner Bros. Discovery during the second quarter valued at approximately $14,760,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.95% of the company’s stock.

Warner Bros. Discovery Stock Performance

Warner Bros. Discovery stock opened at $9.52 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market cap of $23.35 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.08, a P/E/G ratio of 9.12 and a beta of 1.50. Warner Bros. Discovery has a 1-year low of $6.64 and a 1-year high of $12.70. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $10.37 and a 200-day moving average of $8.72.

Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.07) by $0.12. The business had revenue of $9.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.79 billion. Warner Bros. Discovery had a negative return on equity of 27.56% and a negative net margin of 28.34%. Warner Bros. Discovery’s quarterly revenue was down 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.17) EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Warner Bros. Discovery will post -4.36 EPS for the current year.

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.