UPDATE: Wunderlich Securities Reiterates On Time Warner On Possible XES Acquisition

In a report published Monday, Wunderlich Securities analyst Matthew Harrigan reiterated a Buy rating on

, and raised the price target from $83.00 to $93.00. In the report, Wunderlich Securities noted, “Warner Bros. and Microsoft (MSFT-NR) are reportedly in tentative discussions that could have the studio acquiring the soon-to-be shuttered Santa Monica Xbox Entertainment Studios division. XES could then possibly be merged with Machinima, the video game/user generated content oriented YouTube network that is partly owned by Warner Bros. (XES programming still to be produced includes Halo: Nightfall and the slated Halo live-action TV series.) Beyond this interesting but modest deal, we feel that Buy-rated Time Warner's (TWX) stock price over discounts film risk at Warner Bros. and (more pivotally) current advertising sluggishness at Turner Networks. We are now increasing our formal price target to $93 in 2015, vs. a former $83 2014 oriented target.” Time Warner closed on Friday at $76.50.