Investors Buy Large Volume of Warner Bros. Discovery Put Options (NASDAQ:WBD)

Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD) saw unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Investors purchased 86,665 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 40% compared to the typical daily volume of 61,857 put options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WBD has been the topic of several analyst reports. KeyCorp raised shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $11.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $7.00 to $10.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from $10.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Warner Bros. Discovery presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $13.32.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Warner Bros. Discovery

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Forum Financial Management LP increased its position in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 42,179 shares of the company’s stock valued at $458,000 after purchasing an additional 948 shares during the last quarter. Bridgeworth LLC increased its position in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Bridgeworth LLC now owns 13,845 shares of the company’s stock valued at $158,000 after purchasing an additional 952 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank increased its position in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 388,660 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,423,000 after purchasing an additional 996 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC now owns 56,833 shares of the company’s stock valued at $642,000 after purchasing an additional 1,025 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 20.8% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 6,254 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 1,076 shares during the last quarter. 59.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Warner Bros. Discovery Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of WBD traded up $0.03 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $7.73. The stock had a trading volume of 10,936,342 shares, compared to its average volume of 27,802,707. Warner Bros. Discovery has a 12 month low of $7.34 and a 12 month high of $14.76. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $8.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The company has a market capitalization of $18.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.21 and a beta of 1.51.

Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported ($0.40) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by ($0.16). The firm had revenue of $9.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.22 billion. Warner Bros. Discovery had a negative return on equity of 6.58% and a negative net margin of 7.45%. Warner Bros. Discovery’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.18 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Warner Bros. Discovery will post -0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Warner Bros. Discovery

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.