News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) Shares Sold by Guggenheim Capital LLC

Guggenheim Capital LLC lowered its position in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA – Get Rating) by 9.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 48,266 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,077 shares during the period. Guggenheim Capital LLC’s holdings in News were worth $729,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Verition Fund Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of News in the third quarter worth about $177,000. Boothbay Fund Management LLC raised its position in shares of News by 75.0% in the third quarter. Boothbay Fund Management LLC now owns 246,651 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,727,000 after acquiring an additional 105,714 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC raised its position in shares of News by 6.7% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 18,368 shares of the company’s stock worth $278,000 after acquiring an additional 1,148 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in shares of News by 238.7% in the third quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 97,482 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,473,000 after acquiring an additional 68,700 shares during the period. Finally, Veritable L.P. acquired a new position in shares of News in the third quarter worth about $188,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.84% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other News news, General Counsel David B. Pitofsky sold 23,750 shares of News stock in a transaction on Friday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.23, for a total value of $409,212.50. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 63,956 shares in the company, valued at $1,101,961.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 13.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

News Stock Performance

NASDAQ NWSA opened at $16.29 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $18.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.33 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.28. News Co. has a fifty-two week low of $14.87 and a fifty-two week high of $23.07.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 9th. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.57 billion. News had a return on equity of 5.13% and a net margin of 2.94%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.44 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that News Co. will post 0.55 earnings per share for the current year.

News Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 14th. News’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.46%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Loop Capital upgraded shares of News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $17.00 to $25.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 25th. StockNews.com cut shares of News from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $26.03.

About News

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News Corp. is a media and information services company, which engages in the creation and distribution of content and other services. It operates through the following segments: Digital Real Estate Services, Subscription Video Services, Dow Jones, Book Publishing, News Media, and Other. The Digital Real Estate Services segment refers to the firm’s interest in the REA Group, a company with operations focused on property and property-related advertising and services, as well as financial services.