Short Interest in Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD) Declines By 15.5%

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

Insider Transactions at Warner Bros. Discovery

In other Warner Bros. Discovery news, insider Savalle Sims sold 169,436 shares of Warner Bros. Discovery stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.36, for a total value of $2,094,228.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 599,317 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,407,558.12. The trade was a 22.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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

Warner Bros. Discovery Stock Up 1.8 %

WBD stock opened at $10.62 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $10.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $8.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. Warner Bros. Discovery has a 1-year low of $6.64 and a 1-year high of $12.70. The stock has a market cap of $26.05 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.32, a P/E/G ratio of 6.12 and a beta of 1.50.

Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.07) by $0.12. Warner Bros. Discovery had a negative return on equity of 27.56% and a negative net margin of 28.34%. The business had revenue of $9.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.79 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.17) earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Warner Bros. Discovery will post -4.33 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WBD has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Moffett Nathanson upgraded Warner Bros. Discovery from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $9.00 to $13.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Warner Bros. Discovery from $11.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $16.00 target price on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in a report on Friday, December 13th. Guggenheim lifted their target price on Warner Bros. Discovery from $11.00 to $12.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Macquarie raised their price objective on Warner Bros. Discovery from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.