New York State Common Retirement Fund Boosts Stock Position in News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA)

New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its stake in shares of News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 9.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 245,195 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,675 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in News were worth $6,674,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of News in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,171,000. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of News by 19.9% in the 4th quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 174,438 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,804,000 after buying an additional 28,924 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its stake in News by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 170,634 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,699,000 after purchasing an additional 15,294 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its stake in News by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 91,205 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,512,000 after purchasing an additional 8,847 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new position in News in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on NWSA. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of News in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on News from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut News from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, News presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $39.20.

News Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:NWSA opened at $29.86 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $28.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.88. The firm has a market cap of $16.90 billion, a PE ratio of 34.72 and a beta of 1.23. News Corporation has a 12-month low of $23.38 and a 12-month high of $30.75.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $2.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2 billion. News had a net margin of 5.18% and a return on equity of 5.64%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.13 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that News Corporation will post 0.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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