abrdn plc Increases Stake in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA)

abrdn plc raised its stake in shares of News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 70.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 159,742 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 65,811 shares during the period. abrdn plc’s holdings in News were worth $3,922,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Financial Management Professionals Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of News during the 4th quarter worth $49,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in News by 65.1% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,655 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,000 after acquiring an additional 1,047 shares during the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt raised its holdings in shares of News by 120.5% in the 4th quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 2,897 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 1,583 shares during the period. Anchor Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of News in the 4th quarter valued at about $132,000. Finally, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise grew its holdings in shares of News by 70.4% during the 3rd quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 5,869 shares of the company’s stock worth $118,000 after purchasing an additional 2,425 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

News Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of News stock opened at $24.22 on Monday. 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 Co. has a 1-year low of $16.35 and a 1-year high of $28.00. The business has a 50-day moving average of $25.62 and a 200-day moving average of $23.92. The company has a market capitalization of $13.83 billion, a PE ratio of 60.55 and a beta of 1.33.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.06. News had a return on equity of 4.14% and a net margin of 2.29%. The company had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.14 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that News Co. will post 0.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

News Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.