LPL Financial LLC Grows Stock Holdings in News Corporation $NWS

LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWS) by 77.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 89,231 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 38,858 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in News were worth $2,710,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of News by 9.6% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,837 shares of the company’s stock worth $147,000 after buying an additional 425 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its stake in News by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 29,660 shares of the company’s stock worth $903,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of News by 20.3% during the first quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 3,210 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,000 after purchasing an additional 542 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital boosted its stake in shares of News by 7.7% during the first quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 8,578 shares of the company’s stock valued at $259,000 after purchasing an additional 615 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. boosted its stake in News by 14.9% in the first quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 6,711 shares of the company’s stock valued at $204,000 after acquiring an additional 869 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 14.63% of the company’s stock.

News Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of News stock opened at $34.03 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.72. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $33.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.30. News Corporation has a 1 year low of $26.25 and a 1 year high of $35.58. The stock has a market cap of $19.23 billion, a PE ratio of 16.36 and a beta of 1.23.

News (NASDAQ:NWS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.01. News had a net margin of 13.21% and a return on equity of 5.66%. The firm had revenue of $2.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.09 billion. Equities research analysts predict that News Corporation will post 1.03 earnings per share for the current year.

News Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 60.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 10th. News’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.62%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Zacks Research upgraded shares of News to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th.

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.