Sanctuary Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. $WBD

Sanctuary Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD) by 24.5% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 159,408 shares of the company’s stock after selling 51,707 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC’s holdings in Warner Bros. Discovery were worth $4,377,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in WBD. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Warner Bros. Discovery by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 283,180,433 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,161,260,000 after buying an additional 1,966,278 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Warner Bros. Discovery by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 66,597,575 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,912,634,000 after buying an additional 1,028,346 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,123,807,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 27,462,742 shares of the company’s stock valued at $791,476,000 after acquiring an additional 1,254,813 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,496,725 shares of the company’s stock worth $458,891,000 after acquiring an additional 876,869 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.95% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WBD has been the topic of a number of research reports. Huber Research upgraded Warner Bros. Discovery from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in a report on Friday, April 24th. UBS Group raised their price target on Warner Bros. Discovery from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Zacks Research raised Warner Bros. Discovery from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Seaport Research Partners upgraded shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $31.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $27.04.

More Warner Bros. Discovery News

Here are the key news stories impacting Warner Bros. Discovery this week:

• Negative Sentiment: A federal judge will rule by July 22 on California’s request to temporarily freeze Paramount’s $111 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, increasing the risk of a near-term delay to the deal. Judge delays ruling on California’s bid to freeze Paramount’s $111B takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery
• Negative Sentiment: California and 11 other Democratic state attorneys general are pushing an antitrust case to pause the merger, and media reports suggest Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount may have to delay closing while the legal fight plays out. Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) Faces State Lawsuit Over $110 Billion Merger Pause
• Neutral Sentiment: Paramount has publicly argued the states’ antitrust case is unusually weak, but that defense does not remove the immediate legal uncertainty around the transaction. Paramount Calls the States’ Antitrust Case Against Warner Bros. Merger ‘One of the Weakest’ in Modern History
• Neutral Sentiment: Several shareholder lawsuits and related responses have added more headlines, but these appear secondary to the main issue: whether regulators or the court will block or delay the deal. Paramount and Warner Bros expect a delay in closing the deal

Warner Bros. Discovery Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WBD opened at $26.87 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $26.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $27.48. The stock has a market cap of $67.37 billion, a PE ratio of -38.39 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.73. Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. has a one year low of $10.76 and a one year high of $30.00.

Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported ($1.17) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.10) by ($1.07). Warner Bros. Discovery had a negative return on equity of 4.77% and a negative net margin of 4.67%.The company had revenue of $8.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.89 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.18) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. will post -1.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Warner Bros. Discovery

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.