News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) Position Raised by Citigroup Inc.

Citigroup Inc. increased its position in shares of News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 20.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 127,794 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,631 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc.’s holdings in News were worth $2,207,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in News by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 71,894,815 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,308,486,000 after purchasing an additional 2,984,601 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of News by 1.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 55,393,232 shares of the company’s stock valued at $836,992,000 after buying an additional 536,547 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in shares of News by 0.8% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 25,216,349 shares of the company’s stock valued at $558,541,000 after buying an additional 210,486 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of News by 1.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,052,916 shares of the company’s stock valued at $259,329,000 after buying an additional 164,957 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Yacktman Asset Management LP increased its holdings in shares of News by 0.7% in the first quarter. Yacktman Asset Management LP now owns 16,915,929 shares of the company’s stock valued at $292,138,000 after buying an additional 112,748 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on NWSA. StockNews.com raised News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 16th. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of News from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 14th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of News in a research report on Wednesday, August 16th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $27.50 price objective on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of News from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 21st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $28.13.

News Trading Up 0.1 %

News stock opened at $21.21 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $20.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.58. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. News Co. has a 12 month low of $14.87 and a 12 month high of $21.69. The stock has a market cap of $12.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 78.56 and a beta of 1.32.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 10th. The company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.05. News had a net margin of 1.51% and a return on equity of 3.17%. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.37 EPS. News’s revenue was down 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that News Co. will post 0.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

News Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a Semi-Annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 12th. News’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.07%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Marygrace Degrazio sold 9,754 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.08, for a total value of $205,614.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 21,722 shares in the company, valued at $457,899.76. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CAO Marygrace Degrazio sold 9,754 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.08, for a total value of $205,614.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 21,722 shares in the company, valued at $457,899.76. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel David B. Pitofsky sold 58,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.98, for a total transaction of $1,216,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 83,291 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,747,445.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 251,966 shares of company stock worth $5,285,380 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.80% of the company’s stock.

News Profile

News Corporation, a media and information services company, creates and distributes authoritative and engaging content, and other products and services for consumers and businesses worldwide. It operates in six segments: Digital Real Estate Services, Subscription Video Services, Dow Jones, Book Publishing, News Media, and Other.