Discovery Communications (NASDAQ:DISCA) was upgraded by research analysts at Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage presently has a $30.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America’s target price points to a potential upside of 34.11% from the stock’s current price.
Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on DISCA. ValuEngine downgraded Discovery Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 1st. Cowen restated a “hold” rating and set a $25.00 price objective on shares of Discovery Communications in a research report on Friday, September 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Discovery Communications in a research report on Tuesday, September 12th. Credit Suisse Group upgraded Discovery Communications from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $23.00 to $22.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 14th. Finally, UBS upgraded Discovery Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $25.00 to $23.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Discovery Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $24.06.
Shares of Discovery Communications (DISCA) traded up $0.36 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $22.37. The stock had a trading volume of 7,442,400 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,014,540. The stock has a market cap of $8,342.98, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56, a current ratio of 5.87 and a quick ratio of 5.87. Discovery Communications has a fifty-two week low of $15.99 and a fifty-two week high of $30.25.
In other news, CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels acquired 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 3rd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $15.45 per share, for a total transaction of $231,750.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $772,500. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director J David Wargo acquired 80,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 3rd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $15.80 per share, with a total value of $1,264,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 147,591 shares in the company, valued at $2,331,937.80. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired a total of 527,523 shares of company stock valued at $9,629,104 over the last quarter. 6.81% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DISCA. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Discovery Communications by 12.2% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 11,966,987 shares of the company’s stock worth $254,779,000 after purchasing an additional 1,297,175 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in Discovery Communications by 32.7% during the 2nd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,938,569 shares of the company’s stock worth $127,563,000 after purchasing an additional 1,216,517 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Discovery Communications by 5.2% during the 2nd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 18,606,223 shares of the company’s stock worth $480,599,000 after purchasing an additional 917,632 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new stake in Discovery Communications during the 3rd quarter worth $19,118,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Discovery Communications by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,661,316 shares of the company’s stock worth $430,362,000 after purchasing an additional 858,015 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 48.12% of the company’s stock.
About Discovery Communications
Discovery Communications, Inc (Discovery) is a global media company. The Company provides content across multiple distribution platforms, including pay-television (pay-TV), free-to-air (FTA) and broadcast television, Websites, digital distribution arrangements and content licensing agreements. Its segments include U.S.
