Independent Franchise Partners LLP Boosts Stock Position in Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. $WBD

Independent Franchise Partners LLP increased its holdings in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD) by 0.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 13,107,132 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 69,208 shares during the period. Warner Bros. Discovery comprises approximately 1.7% of Independent Franchise Partners LLP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Independent Franchise Partners LLP owned approximately 0.53% of Warner Bros. Discovery worth $255,982,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Concord Wealth Partners increased its holdings in Warner Bros. Discovery by 49.9% in the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 1,321 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 440 shares in the last quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its position in Warner Bros. Discovery by 152.1% during the third quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,404 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 847 shares during the period. Grove Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in Warner Bros. Discovery by 66.5% during the third quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 1,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 675 shares in the last quarter. Crews Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in Warner Bros. Discovery by 1,242.2% during the third quarter. Crews Bank & Trust now owns 1,718 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 1,590 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 183.9% in the third quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,891 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 1,225 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.95% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Priya Aiyar sold 223,512 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.24, for a total transaction of $6,311,978.88. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 919,252 shares in the company, valued at $25,959,676.48. The trade was a 19.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Bruce Campbell sold 1,580,331 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.00, for a total value of $44,249,268.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 690,028 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,320,784. This trade represents a 69.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 7,571,827 shares of company stock worth $213,302,225. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on WBD. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $31.00 target price on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the company from $29.50 to $31.00 in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Moffett Nathanson upgraded Warner Bros. Discovery from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 8th. Guggenheim cut Warner Bros. Discovery from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $25.00 to $30.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Huber Research downgraded Warner Bros. Discovery from a “strong-buy” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $26.30.

Warner Bros. Discovery Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WBD opened at $27.14 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $28.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $23.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The company has a market cap of $67.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 93.59 and a beta of 1.60. Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. has a twelve month low of $7.52 and a twelve month high of $30.00.

Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported ($0.10) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by ($0.19). Warner Bros. Discovery had a return on equity of 1.98% and a net margin of 1.95%.The business had revenue of $9.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.20) earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. will post -4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Warner Bros. Discovery Company Profile

Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ: WBD) is a global media and entertainment company formed when WarnerMedia and Discovery, Inc combined their businesses in 2022. Headquartered in New York City, the company assembles a broad portfolio of film and television production, linear and cable networks, streaming services and consumer distribution operations. Its assets span well-known studio brands, premium scripted and unscripted programming, news and factual entertainment, and licensed franchise properties.

The company’s core activities include film and television production and distribution through units such as Warner Bros.