Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. $WBD Stake Lessened by Engineers Gate Manager LP

Engineers Gate Manager LP lessened its holdings in Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD) by 17.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 189,184 shares of the company’s stock after selling 39,160 shares during the period. Engineers Gate Manager LP’s holdings in Warner Bros. Discovery were worth $5,044,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WBD. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its stake in Warner Bros. Discovery by 17.7% in the 2nd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 35,326 shares of the company’s stock worth $942,000 after acquiring an additional 5,305 shares in the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 9.9% during the second quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 4,170 shares of the company’s stock worth $111,000 after purchasing an additional 374 shares during the period. Maven Securities LTD grew its position in Warner Bros. Discovery by 59.3% during the second quarter. Maven Securities LTD now owns 269,357 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,181,000 after purchasing an additional 100,307 shares in the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Warner Bros. Discovery in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $353,000. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its position in Warner Bros. Discovery by 23.9% in the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 57,562 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,535,000 after buying an additional 11,087 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.95% of the company’s stock.

Warner Bros. Discovery Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of WBD stock opened at $28.04 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $27.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.24. Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. has a twelve month low of $17.08 and a twelve month high of $30.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. The company has a market capitalization of $70.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -22.08 and a beta of 1.57.

Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.14) by $0.20. Warner Bros. Discovery had a negative return on equity of 8.91% and a negative net margin of 8.77%.The company had revenue of $8.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.63 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. will post -1.11 EPS for the current year.

Trending Headlines about Warner Bros. Discovery

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

• Positive Sentiment: Paramount is reportedly preparing to meet with state attorneys general in late October to discuss settlement terms related to its proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. Paramount CEO David Ellison is also considering strategies to secure clearance in California. Progress toward resolving antitrust concerns could improve deal certainty and support WBD’s valuation. Paramount settlement talks article Paramount California clearance article
• Neutral Sentiment: The proposed transaction remains the dominant catalyst. However, a reported $7 million daily ticking fee is approaching, increasing the financial stakes if closing is delayed. Investors are likely focused on whether regulatory negotiations can prevent additional costs and keep the deal on schedule.
• Neutral Sentiment: Warner Bros. Discovery is promoting upcoming television programming and using youth-focused marketing to build interest in the Basketball World Cup. These initiatives may support audience engagement, but they are less material to near-term valuation than the Paramount transaction. Warner Bros. TV programming article Basketball World Cup marketing article
• Negative Sentiment: Two insiders sold a combined 462,285 shares worth approximately $13.0 million. Director Kenneth Lowe reduced his position by 25.31%, while insider Amy Girdwood cut hers by 32.72%. Although insider sales do not necessarily indicate deteriorating fundamentals, the size of the transactions can weigh on sentiment, particularly while WBD faces regulatory and execution risks. Kenneth Lowe SEC filing Amy Girdwood SEC filing

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WBD has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Zacks Research upgraded Warner Bros. Discovery from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Warner Bros. Discovery from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 18th. Seaport Research Partners lowered shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Huber Research upgraded shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Freedom Capital raised shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $27.69.

Insider Buying and Selling at Warner Bros. Discovery

In other news, insider Amy Girdwood sold 262,285 shares of Warner Bros. Discovery stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.98, for a total value of $7,338,734.30. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 539,374 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,091,684.52. The trade was a 32.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David Zaslav sold 194,999 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.02, for a total value of $5,463,871.98. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 6,807,934 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $190,758,310.68. This represents a 2.78% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 2,753,034 shares of company stock worth $76,636,967 in the last quarter. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Warner Bros. Discovery Profile

Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc is a global media and entertainment company that develops, produces and distributes television, film and digital content. Its portfolio includes Warner Bros. film and television studios, HBO, CNN, Discovery, TLC, HGTV, Food Network, TNT Sports and other well-known brands.

The company operates streaming services including Max, which features HBO programming, Warner Bros. films, original series and other entertainment content, and discovery+, which focuses on lifestyle, documentary and nonfiction programming.