Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Buys New Stake in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA)

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. acquired a new position in shares of News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 16,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $401,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in News by 104.8% in the third quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,608 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 823 shares during the last quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of News in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Financial Management Professionals Inc. acquired a new stake in News during the 4th quarter worth $49,000. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in News by 50.5% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,313 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 776 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in News by 65.1% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,655 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,000 after acquiring an additional 1,047 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on NWSA shares. StockNews.com raised News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. Macquarie raised News from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, TheStreet raised shares of News from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, News has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $29.50.

News Trading Down 2.2 %

NASDAQ:NWSA opened at $24.36 on Friday. News Co. has a 12-month low of $16.35 and a 12-month high of $28.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $25.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.62. The firm has a market cap of $13.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.90 and a beta of 1.33.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.59 billion during 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 business’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.14 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that News Co. will post 0.72 EPS for the current year.

News Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 13th were paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 12th. This represents a dividend yield of 0.8%. News’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.00%.

News Company 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.