70,030 Shares in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) Purchased by Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc.

Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 70,030 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,719,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of NWSA. Ieq Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of News during the third quarter valued at about $253,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in shares of News by 321.4% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,155,073 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,171,000 after purchasing an additional 880,977 shares in the last quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of News by 34.0% in the third quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 96,548 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,937,000 after purchasing an additional 24,496 shares in the last quarter. Mirabella Financial Services LLP acquired a new position in shares of News in the third quarter valued at approximately $496,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in shares of News by 489.6% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 312,732 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,273,000 after purchasing an additional 259,692 shares in the last quarter. 66.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

News Stock Performance

Shares of News stock opened at $24.92 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $25.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.30 and a beta of 1.33. News Co. has a 12 month low of $16.35 and a 12 month high of $28.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.33.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. News had a net margin of 2.29% and a return on equity of 4.14%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.14 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that News Co. will post 0.72 earnings per share for the current year.

News Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 12th. This represents a yield of 0.8%. News’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NWSA has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Macquarie upgraded shares of News from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded shares of News from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, News currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $29.50.

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.