O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC Boosts Holdings in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWS)

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its stake in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWS) by 16.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,043 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 727 shares during the quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC’s holdings in News were worth $153,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of NWS. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its stake in News by 123.7% in the fourth quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 935 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 517 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of News by 136.3% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,217 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 702 shares during the period. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd lifted its position in shares of News by 2,892.8% during the 4th quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 2,065 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 1,996 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of News by 22.9% during the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 2,668 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 497 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in News by 72.1% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,478 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,000 after acquiring an additional 1,457 shares during the period. 14.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

News Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NWS stock opened at $30.43 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.69 and a beta of 1.26. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $31.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $30.76. News Co. has a 1 year low of $23.99 and a 1 year high of $35.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.65.

News (NASDAQ:NWS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by ($0.01). News had a net margin of 4.22% and a return on equity of 5.31%. As a group, analysts anticipate that News Co. will post 1.03 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 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a yield of 0.6%. News’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.40%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of News to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st.

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 through six segments: Digital Real Estate Services, Subscription Video Services, Dow Jones, Book Publishing, News Media, and Other.