Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Purchases Shares of 729,550 Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. $WBD

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new position in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 729,550 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,450,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Warner Bros. Discovery by 304.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 68,950 shares of the company’s stock worth $729,000 after buying an additional 51,920 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 50.5% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 63,254 shares of the company’s stock valued at $679,000 after buying an additional 21,228 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 6.2% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 65,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $698,000 after acquiring an additional 3,779 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth raised its holdings in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 91.6% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 116,821 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,254,000 after acquiring an additional 55,837 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 111,450 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,277,000 after acquiring an additional 4,062 shares during the last quarter. 59.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Warner Bros. Discovery Stock Down 0.4%

WBD stock opened at $28.77 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $72.23 billion, a P/E ratio of -22.65 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $27.24. Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. has a 1-year low of $11.25 and a 1-year high of $30.00.

Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.14) by $0.20. The company had revenue of $8.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.25 billion. Warner Bros. Discovery had a negative return on equity of 8.91% and a negative net margin of 8.77%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.63 EPS. Analysts expect that Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. will post -1.11 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Warner Bros. Discovery

In other Warner Bros. Discovery news, Director Kenneth W. Lowe sold 120,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.97, for a total value of $3,236,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 990,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,703,212.76. This trade represents a 10.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO David Zaslav sold 773,173 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.01, for a total transaction of $21,656,575.73. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 6,807,934 shares in the company, valued at approximately $190,690,231.34. This trade represents a 10.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 1,750,749 shares of company stock valued at $48,329,633 over the last quarter. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on WBD shares. Seaport Research Partners downgraded Warner Bros. Discovery from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Zacks Research raised Warner Bros. Discovery from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $27.69.

Warner Bros. Discovery Company 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.