Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-three brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, fifteen have issued a hold recommendation, five have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $26.3026.

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on WBD shares. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Warner Bros. Discovery from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $25.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Raymond James Financial restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in a report on Friday, February 27th. Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Warner Bros. Discovery in a report on Friday, February 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Warner Bros. Discovery from $23.50 to $27.75 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, Barrington Research lowered Warner Bros. Discovery from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 5th.

Warner Bros. Discovery Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of WBD stock opened at $27.81 on Thursday. Warner Bros. Discovery has a 1 year low of $7.52 and a 1 year high of $30.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.06. The business’s fifty day moving average is $28.21 and its 200-day moving average is $23.64. The stock has a market cap of $68.91 billion, a PE ratio of 95.90 and a beta of 1.60.

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

Insider Transactions at Warner Bros. Discovery

In other Warner Bros. Discovery news, insider Gerhard Zeiler sold 600,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.02, for a total value of $16,812,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 672,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,847,624.98. This represents a 47.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO David Zaslav sold 4,004,149 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.26, for a total transaction of $113,157,250.74. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 7,200,627 shares in the company, valued at $203,489,719.02. This represents a 35.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 7,571,827 shares of company stock worth $213,302,225. Insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Warner Bros. Discovery

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Warner Bros. Discovery by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 283,180,433 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,161,260,000 after buying an additional 1,966,278 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Warner Bros. Discovery by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 66,597,575 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,912,634,000 after purchasing an additional 1,028,346 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Warner Bros. Discovery by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 44,574,492 shares of the company’s stock worth $510,824,000 after acquiring an additional 1,233,195 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Warner Bros. Discovery in the fourth quarter worth $1,123,807,000. Finally, Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in Warner Bros. Discovery by 108.9% during the 3rd quarter. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. now owns 35,095,390 shares of the company’s stock worth $685,413,000 after buying an additional 18,291,865 shares in the last quarter. 59.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

More Warner Bros. Discovery News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Paramount CEO David Ellison told Warner Bros. executives the prior bidding process was “turbulent” but “now behind us,” praised HBO as a “gold standard,” and signaled a cooperative tone that could reduce transaction uncertainty if integration proceeds smoothly. Paramount’s David Ellison Addresses Warner Bros. Execs at Town Hall
• Positive Sentiment: Research upgrade: MoffettNathanson (reported via Zacks) raised WBD to Strong-Buy from Hold, a bullish analyst signal that can attract buyers and support momentum if other firms follow. MoffettNathanson upgrade (via Zacks)
• Neutral Sentiment: Wells Fargo initiated coverage at Equal Weight with a $31 price target — a stabilizing, but not strongly bullish, institutional view that suggests modest upside under current assumptions. Wells Fargo coverage initiated
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: Director/insider Bruce Campbell sold 41,784 shares (~$1.16M), which investors may interpret as opportunistic profit-taking or reduced insider conviction even if sales are routine. SEC filing: Bruce Campbell sale
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts (including BofA) warn the Paramount Skydance–WBD deal carries major integration and execution risks and could take years to deliver benefits, creating near-term downside risk to earnings and free cash flow forecasts. Paramount Skydance price target lowered (Proactive Investors)
• Negative Sentiment: Options market shows moderately bearish flow and greater demand for downside protection (put-call skew steepening), indicating traders are hedging for near-term downside despite relatively low implied volatility. Options traders moderately bearish (Yahoo Finance)
• Negative Sentiment: Structural ad-revenue pressure: YouTube now generates more ad revenue than major traditional media players combined, underscoring secular headwinds for WBD’s ad-supported businesses and long-term monetization. YouTube ad revenue outpaces traditional media (Business Insider)

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.