Quadrature Capital Ltd Acquires Shares of 27,593 News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA)

Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA – Get Rating) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 27,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $417,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of News by 289.4% in the 3rd quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,870 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 2,133 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its position in News by 3,529.0% during the 2nd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 3,375 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 3,282 shares during the last quarter. Wahed Invest LLC purchased a new stake in News during the 2nd quarter valued at about $64,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in News by 8,144.6% during the 3rd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,617 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 4,561 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dupont Capital Management Corp grew its position in News by 34.5% during the 3rd quarter. Dupont Capital Management Corp now owns 6,515 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,000 after purchasing an additional 1,671 shares during the last quarter. 63.84% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at News

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

News Price Performance

NWSA opened at $16.01 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.79 and a beta of 1.31. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $18.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $17.75. News Co. has a 52-week low of $14.87 and a 52-week high of $23.07.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 9th. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.25 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.57 billion. News had a net margin of 2.94% and a return on equity of 5.13%. News’s revenue was down 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.44 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that News Co. will post 0.41 EPS for the current year.

News Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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 is Tuesday, March 14th. News’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.46%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Loop Capital raised shares of News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $17.00 to $25.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, News has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.