Smartleaf Asset Management LLC Grows Position in Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. $WBD

Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD) by 73.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 19,487 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 8,236 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Warner Bros. Discovery were worth $202,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. purchased a new position in Warner Bros. Discovery during the fourth quarter worth $4,914,000. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. purchased a new position in Warner Bros. Discovery during the fourth quarter worth $3,022,000. Hi Line Capital Management LLC increased its position in Warner Bros. Discovery by 17.8% during the first quarter. Hi Line Capital Management LLC now owns 597,478 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,411,000 after buying an additional 90,462 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its position in Warner Bros. Discovery by 682.8% during the first quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 7,145,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,669,000 after buying an additional 6,232,561 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dupree Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in the first quarter valued at $2,884,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.95% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Anton J. Levy bought 250,000 shares of Warner Bros. Discovery stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $10.90 per share, for a total transaction of $2,725,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 874,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,526,600. The trade was a 40.06% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on WBD shares. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Warner Bros. Discovery from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on Warner Bros. Discovery from $18.00 to $16.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $18.00 price objective on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Raymond James Financial lowered their price objective on Warner Bros. Discovery from $14.00 to $13.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $13.14.

Warner Bros. Discovery Price Performance

Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery stock opened at $11.80 on Wednesday. Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. has a twelve month low of $6.78 and a twelve month high of $13.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.33, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $11.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $10.44.

Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.16) by $0.79. Warner Bros. Discovery had a return on equity of 2.14% and a net margin of 2.00%.The firm had revenue of $9.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.73 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($4.07) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. will post -4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Warner Bros. Discovery Company Profile

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.