Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD) Short Interest Update

Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD) saw a significant decline in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 80,050,000 shares, a decline of 15.5% from the December 31st total of 94,760,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 29,470,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.7 days. Currently, 3.6% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Insider Activity at Warner Bros. Discovery

In related news, insider Savalle Sims sold 169,436 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.36, for a total transaction of $2,094,228.96. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 599,317 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,407,558.12. This trade represents a 22.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Warner Bros. Discovery by 4.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 151,285,963 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,248,109,000 after buying an additional 5,898,611 shares during the period. Sessa Capital IM L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 24.7% in the 3rd quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. now owns 28,410,428 shares of the company’s stock valued at $234,386,000 after acquiring an additional 5,625,545 shares in the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 21,396,719 shares of the company’s stock valued at $176,523,000 after acquiring an additional 541,192 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 1.6% during the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 20,889,437 shares of the company’s stock worth $172,338,000 after purchasing an additional 329,620 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 4.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 15,685,506 shares of the company’s stock worth $129,405,000 after purchasing an additional 687,612 shares during the last quarter. 59.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Warner Bros. Discovery Stock Performance

Shares of WBD opened at $10.43 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.12 and a beta of 1.50. Warner Bros. Discovery has a 52-week low of $6.64 and a 52-week high of $12.70. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $10.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $8.89.

Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.07) by $0.12. The company had revenue of $9.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.79 billion. Warner Bros. Discovery had a negative net margin of 28.34% and a negative return on equity of 27.56%. Warner Bros. Discovery’s revenue was down 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.17) earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Warner Bros. Discovery will post -4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WBD has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Warner Bros. Discovery from $11.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Macquarie boosted their price objective on Warner Bros. Discovery from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $16.00 target price on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in a research report on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from $9.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $11.76.

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.