Warner Bros. Discovery’s (WBD) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at Benchmark

Benchmark reissued their buy rating on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $18.00 price target on the stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Warner Bros. Discovery from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut Warner Bros. Discovery from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and cut their target price for the company from $10.00 to $8.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a neutral rating and issued a $9.00 target price on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in a research note on Friday. TD Cowen cut their target price on Warner Bros. Discovery from $15.00 to $14.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Macquarie lowered their price target on Warner Bros. Discovery from $9.00 to $8.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $10.93.

Warner Bros. Discovery Stock Performance

Warner Bros. Discovery stock opened at $8.56 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $20.97 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.90 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $7.78 and a 200-day moving average of $7.97. Warner Bros. Discovery has a 52 week low of $6.64 and a 52 week high of $12.70.

Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported ($4.07) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by ($3.89). Warner Bros. Discovery had a negative net margin of 29.47% and a negative return on equity of 27.28%. The business had revenue of $9.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.51) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Warner Bros. Discovery will post -4.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 54,283 shares of the company’s stock worth $618,000 after purchasing an additional 6,447 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its holdings in Warner Bros. Discovery by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 104,824 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,193,000 after buying an additional 3,797 shares in the last quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 18.5% in the fourth quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 12,268 shares of the company’s stock worth $140,000 after buying an additional 1,913 shares during the last quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems boosted its stake in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems now owns 177,551 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,021,000 after acquiring an additional 1,872 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 1,071.7% during the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 4,722 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 4,319 shares during the last quarter. 59.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.