News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) Shares Acquired by Savant Capital LLC

Savant Capital LLC boosted its position in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 4.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 13,450 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 540 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC’s holdings in News were worth $330,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its position in shares of News by 7.4% in the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 154,806 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,105,000 after buying an additional 10,622 shares during the last quarter. Xponance Inc. grew its stake in News by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 59,936 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,202,000 after acquiring an additional 1,323 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in News by 109.5% in the 3rd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 134,793 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,704,000 after acquiring an additional 70,453 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in shares of News by 489.6% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 312,732 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,273,000 after purchasing an additional 259,692 shares during the period. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of News by 2.1% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 60,093 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,205,000 after purchasing an additional 1,229 shares during the period. 66.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

News Stock Up 0.4 %

NWSA stock opened at $24.56 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $25.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.05. The company has a market capitalization of $14.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.40 and a beta of 1.35. News Co. has a twelve month low of $16.35 and a twelve month high of $28.00.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.06. News had a net margin of 2.29% and a return on equity of 4.14%. The company had revenue of $2.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.14 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that News Co. will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

News Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were issued 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 50.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Macquarie raised shares of News from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. StockNews.com raised 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 note on Wednesday, February 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, News currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price 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.