Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD)

Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD) saw unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Traders acquired 58,442 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 31% compared to the average daily volume of 44,598 call options.

Warner Bros. Discovery Stock Up 11.1 %

Shares of WBD traded up $0.93 on Thursday, hitting $9.31. 44,710,900 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 28,935,654. The company has a market capitalization of $22.83 billion, a PE ratio of -1.97 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $7.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $7.82. Warner Bros. Discovery has a one year low of $6.64 and a one year high of $12.70.

Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported ($4.07) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.18) by ($3.89). Warner Bros. Discovery had a negative return on equity of 27.28% and a negative net margin of 29.47%. The company had revenue of $9.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.07 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.51) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Warner Bros. Discovery will post -4.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WBD has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Macquarie lowered their price objective on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from $9.00 to $8.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from $9.00 to $8.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson lowered their price objective on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $10.66.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Warner Bros. Discovery

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WBD. Sessa Capital IM L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 28.8% during the 2nd quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. now owns 22,784,883 shares of the company’s stock valued at $169,520,000 after buying an additional 5,100,000 shares in the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 20,855,527 shares of the company’s stock valued at $155,165,000 after buying an additional 235,192 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 14,192,814 shares of the company’s stock valued at $105,595,000 after buying an additional 719,869 shares in the last quarter. Yacktman Asset Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Yacktman Asset Management LP now owns 8,152,369 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,654,000 after buying an additional 100,565 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC lifted its stake in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 23.9% during the 2nd quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 7,542,407 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,116,000 after buying an additional 1,452,913 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 59.95% of the company’s stock.

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.