Swiss National Bank Increases Stock Holdings in Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. $WBD

Swiss National Bank increased its stake in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD) by 8.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,959,827 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 514,600 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Warner Bros. Discovery were worth $191,117,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Warner Bros. Discovery by 0.7% in 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Warner Bros. Discovery by 1.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,028,346 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Warner Bros. Discovery during the fourth quarter valued at $1,123,807,000. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 4.8% in the fourth 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 raised its stake in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 3.9% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,496,725 shares of the company’s stock valued at $458,891,000 after acquiring an additional 876,869 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.95% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Warner Bros. Discovery

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Zacks Research raised shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Seaport Research Partners raised shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $31.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Huber Research upgraded Warner Bros. Discovery from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $27.04.

Warner Bros. Discovery Price Performance

Warner Bros. Discovery stock opened at $26.87 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The stock has a market cap of $67.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -38.39 and a beta of 1.54. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $26.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $27.48. Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. has a 1 year low of $10.76 and a 1 year high of $30.00.

Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported ($1.17) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 last year, the business posted ($0.18) earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. will post -1.07 earnings per share for the current 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.