Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co Makes New Investment in Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. $WBD

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co bought a new position in Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 429,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,372,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WBD. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 304.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 68,950 shares of the company’s stock worth $729,000 after purchasing an additional 51,920 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 50.5% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 63,254 shares of the company’s stock worth $679,000 after purchasing an additional 21,228 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 65,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $698,000 after purchasing an additional 3,779 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth increased its stake in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 91.6% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 116,821 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,254,000 after purchasing an additional 55,837 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 111,450 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,277,000 after purchasing an additional 4,062 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.95% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Warner Bros. Discovery

In other news, CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels sold 617,580 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.25, for a total transaction of $17,446,635.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 691,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,536,852.50. This trade represents a 47.17% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO David Zaslav sold 4,004,149 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.26, for a total transaction of $113,157,250.74. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 7,200,627 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $203,489,719.02. The trade was a 35.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 8,206,827 shares of company stock worth $230,674,025 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on WBD shares. Raymond James Financial restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Arete Research reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $31.25 price objective on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in a research note on Friday, February 27th. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $29.50 to $31.00 in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $31.00 price target on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Warner Bros. Discovery has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $26.30.

Warner Bros. Discovery Price Performance

NASDAQ:WBD opened at $26.96 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $27.59 and a 200-day moving average of $26.47. The company has a market capitalization of $67.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 92.97 and a beta of 1.57. Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. has a 52 week low of $8.06 and a 52 week high of $30.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.06.

Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported ($0.10) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by ($0.19). The business had revenue of $9.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.33 billion. Warner Bros. Discovery had a return on equity of 1.98% and a net margin of 1.95%.Warner Bros. Discovery’s revenue was down 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.20) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. will post -0.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Warner Bros. Discovery 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.