Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. $WBD Shares Sold by Wakefield Asset Management LLLP

Wakefield Asset Management LLLP decreased its position in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD) by 51.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 23,214 shares of the company’s stock after selling 24,800 shares during the quarter. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP’s holdings in Warner Bros. Discovery were worth $453,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Warner Bros. Discovery in the 2nd quarter valued at about $306,848,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in Warner Bros. Discovery by 4,639.8% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 22,788,847 shares of the company’s stock worth $445,066,000 after purchasing an additional 22,308,046 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 7.1% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 281,214,155 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,492,112,000 after purchasing an additional 18,736,600 shares during the period. Maverick Capital Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in the second quarter valued at approximately $77,896,000. Finally, Duquesne Family Office LLC bought a new stake in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery during the second quarter valued at approximately $74,916,000. Institutional investors own 59.95% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Bruce Campbell sold 41,784 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.82, for a total transaction of $1,162,430.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 604,666 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,821,808.12. This represents a 6.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Priya Aiyar sold 223,512 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.24, for a total value of $6,311,978.88. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 919,252 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,959,676.48. This represents a 19.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 7,571,827 shares of company stock valued at $213,302,225 in the last ninety days. 1.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WBD. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Warner Bros. Discovery from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $29.50 to $31.00 in a report on Friday, February 27th. Moffett Nathanson raised Warner Bros. Discovery from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $31.00 price target on Warner Bros. Discovery and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Argus reduced their price objective on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Barrington Research lowered shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.30.

Warner Bros. Discovery Price Performance

NASDAQ:WBD opened at $27.76 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $28.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $23.61. The firm has a market cap of $68.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 95.73 and a beta of 1.60. Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. has a 52-week low of $7.52 and a 52-week high of $30.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) last issued 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). The business had revenue of $9.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.33 billion. Warner Bros. Discovery had a net margin of 1.95% and a return on equity of 1.98%. Warner Bros. Discovery’s revenue was down 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.20) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. will post -4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Key Stories Impacting Warner Bros. Discovery

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

• Positive Sentiment: Paramount CEO David Ellison met with Warner Bros. Discovery executives, called the prior bidding process “turbulent” but said it is “now behind us,” and praised HBO as a “gold standard” — language that suggests smoother deal communications and a reduced uncertainty premium if integration proceeds cooperatively. Paramount’s David Ellison Addresses Warner Bros. Execs at Town Hall
• Positive Sentiment: MoffettNathanson upgraded WBD from Hold to Strong-Buy, a bullish signal that can attract buy-side interest and support the stock if others follow. MoffettNathanson upgrade (via Zacks)
• Neutral Sentiment: Wells Fargo resumed coverage and initiated WBD at Equal Weight with a $31 price target (about mid-teens upside), a cautious institutional view that may stabilize shares but is not strongly bullish. Wells Fargo coverage initiated
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: Bruce Campbell sold 41,784 shares (~$1.16M). Single insider sales can be routine but may be viewed by some investors as reduced insider conviction or opportunistic profit-taking. SEC filing: Bruce Campbell sale
• Negative Sentiment: Bank of America and other analysts flag major integration and execution risks around the Paramount Skydance acquisition of WBD, noting the deal could take years to deliver benefits — this raises downside risk to near-term earnings and free cash flow forecasts. Paramount Skydance price target lowered (Proactive Investors)
• Negative Sentiment: Options market shows moderately bearish flow and increased demand for downside protection (put-call skew steepening), indicating traders are hedging against near-term downside. Options traders moderately bearish (Yahoo Finance)
• Negative Sentiment: Structural ad-market pressure: YouTube now generates more ad revenue than major traditional media players combined, highlighting secular ad-revenue challenges for WBD’s ad-supported businesses. YouTube ad revenue outpaces traditional media (Business Insider)

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.