Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. $WBD Stake Trimmed by Wakefield Asset Management LLLP

Wakefield Asset Management LLLP lessened its stake in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD) by 51.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,214 shares of the company’s stock after selling 24,800 shares during the period. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP’s holdings in Warner Bros. Discovery were worth $453,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Concord Wealth Partners increased its position in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 49.9% in the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 1,321 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 440 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,559 shares of the company’s stock valued at $304,000 after acquiring an additional 474 shares in the last quarter. Claro Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 11,591 shares of the company’s stock valued at $226,000 after acquiring an additional 484 shares in the last quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Warner Bros. Discovery by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 91,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,785,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares during the period. Finally, Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Warner Bros. Discovery by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 16,860 shares of the company’s stock worth $329,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the period. 59.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Headlines Impacting Warner Bros. Discovery

Here are the key news stories impacting Warner Bros. Discovery this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Paramount CEO David Ellison met with Warner Bros. Discovery executives, called the prior bidding process “turbulent” but said it is “now behind us,” and praised HBO as a “gold standard” — language that suggests smoother deal communications and a reduced uncertainty premium if integration proceeds cooperatively. Paramount’s David Ellison Addresses Warner Bros. Execs at Town Hall
• Positive Sentiment: MoffettNathanson upgraded WBD from Hold to Strong-Buy, a bullish signal that can attract buy-side interest and support the stock if others follow. MoffettNathanson upgrade (via Zacks)
• Neutral Sentiment: Wells Fargo resumed coverage and initiated WBD at Equal Weight with a $31 price target (about mid-teens upside), a cautious institutional view that may stabilize shares but is not strongly bullish. Wells Fargo coverage initiated
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: Bruce Campbell sold 41,784 shares (~$1.16M). Single insider sales can be routine but may be viewed by some investors as reduced insider conviction or opportunistic profit-taking. SEC filing: Bruce Campbell sale
• Negative Sentiment: Bank of America and other analysts flag major integration and execution risks around the Paramount Skydance acquisition of WBD, noting the deal could take years to deliver benefits — this raises downside risk to near-term earnings and free cash flow forecasts. Paramount Skydance price target lowered (Proactive Investors)
• Negative Sentiment: Options market shows moderately bearish flow and increased demand for downside protection (put-call skew steepening), indicating traders are hedging against near-term downside. Options traders moderately bearish (Yahoo Finance)
• Negative Sentiment: Structural ad-market pressure: YouTube now generates more ad revenue than major traditional media players combined, highlighting secular ad-revenue challenges for WBD’s ad-supported businesses. YouTube ad revenue outpaces traditional media (Business Insider)

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on WBD shares. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in a report on Friday, February 27th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Warner Bros. Discovery from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from $23.50 to $27.75 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Huber Research downgraded shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from a “strong-buy” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Argus reduced their price objective on Warner Bros. Discovery from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.30.

Warner Bros. Discovery Stock Up 0.0%

Warner Bros. Discovery stock opened at $27.76 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. has a 1-year low of $7.52 and a 1-year high of $30.00. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $28.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.61. The company has a market capitalization of $68.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 95.73 and a beta of 1.60.

Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported ($0.10) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.09 by ($0.19). The company had revenue of $9.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.33 billion. Warner Bros. Discovery had a net margin of 1.95% and a return on equity of 1.98%. Warner Bros. Discovery’s quarterly revenue was down 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.20) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. will post -4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Warner Bros. Discovery news, CEO David Zaslav sold 4,004,149 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.26, for a total transaction of $113,157,250.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 7,200,627 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $203,489,719.02. The trade was a 35.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Priya Aiyar sold 223,512 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.24, for a total value of $6,311,978.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 919,252 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,959,676.48. This represents a 19.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 7,571,827 shares of company stock valued at $213,302,225. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Warner Bros. Discovery 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.