Russell Investments Group Ltd. Purchases 144,310 Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. $WBD

Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD) by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,503,989 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 144,310 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned about 0.06% of Warner Bros. Discovery worth $29,358,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 17.0% during the third quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 948,386 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,522,000 after buying an additional 138,018 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 16.5% during the 3rd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 14,955 shares of the company’s stock worth $292,000 after acquiring an additional 2,113 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 38.0% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 639,637 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,492,000 after acquiring an additional 176,274 shares during the last quarter. Korea Investment CORP boosted its holdings in Warner Bros. Discovery by 162.8% during the 3rd quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 1,281,797 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,033,000 after acquiring an additional 794,088 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriflex Group Inc. grew its position in Warner Bros. Discovery by 37.3% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 2,530 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 687 shares during the last quarter. 59.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Warner Bros. Discovery Stock Performance

Shares of WBD stock opened at $27.44 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $28.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.67. The company has a market cap of $68.00 billion, a PE ratio of 94.63 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. has a 12-month low of $7.52 and a 12-month high of $30.00.

Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). Warner Bros. Discovery had a return on equity of 1.98% and a net margin of 1.95%.The business had revenue of $9.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.20) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. will post -4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels sold 374,323 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 663,380 shares in the company, valued at $18,607,809. This represents a 36.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Gerhard Zeiler sold 600,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.02, for a total transaction of $16,812,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 672,649 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,847,624.98. This trade represents a 47.15% decrease in their position. 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 90 days. 1.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WBD has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Cowen increased their target price on Warner Bros. Discovery from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $29.50 to $31.00 in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Moffett Nathanson upgraded shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday, March 8th. Finally, Argus lowered 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 research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.30.

About Warner Bros. Discovery

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.