Legal & General Group Plc Buys 759,407 Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. $WBD

Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD) by 5.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 15,045,260 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 759,407 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Warner Bros. Discovery were worth $433,604,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC bought a new position in Warner Bros. Discovery during the fourth quarter worth $213,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in Warner Bros. Discovery by 27.0% during the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 12,338 shares of the company’s stock worth $356,000 after buying an additional 2,626 shares in the last quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP boosted its stake in Warner Bros. Discovery by 80.9% during the fourth quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 21,440 shares of the company’s stock worth $618,000 after buying an additional 9,585 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in Warner Bros. Discovery by 44.1% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,535,742 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,260,000 after buying an additional 470,297 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prospera Financial Services Inc boosted its stake in Warner Bros. Discovery by 59.9% during the fourth quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 451,631 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,016,000 after buying an additional 169,229 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 59.95% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. 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. Huber Research downgraded shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from a “strong-buy” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Arete Research reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $31.25 price target on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Moffett Nathanson upgraded shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 8th. Finally, Argus decreased their price target on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $26.36.

Warner Bros. Discovery Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WBD opened at $27.03 on Tuesday. Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. has a 52 week low of $8.84 and a 52 week high of $30.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.73. The company’s fifty day moving average is $27.25 and its 200-day moving average is $27.16. The company has a market capitalization of $67.77 billion, a PE ratio of -38.61 and a beta of 1.57.

Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported ($1.17) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.10) by ($1.07). Warner Bros. Discovery had a negative net margin of 4.67% and a negative return on equity of 4.77%. The firm had revenue of $8.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.89 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.18) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. will post -0.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Fazal F. Merchant sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.48, for a total value of $961,800.00. Following the sale, the director owned 95,539 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,625,411.72. The trade was a 26.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels sold 374,323 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.05, for a total transaction of $10,499,760.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 663,380 shares in the company, valued at $18,607,809. This represents a 36.07% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 8,206,827 shares of company stock worth $230,674,025 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

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.