Russell Investments Group Ltd. Grows Stock Holdings in News Corporation $NWS

Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWS) by 26.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 14,872 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 3,082 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in News were worth $452,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its position in News by 3,546.2% in the 1st quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 948 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 922 shares during the period. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in News by 75.3% in the 1st quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 964 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 414 shares during the period. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. purchased a new stake in News in the 4th quarter valued at about $50,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in News in the 4th quarter valued at about $96,000. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its position in News by 20.3% in the 1st quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 3,210 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,000 after buying an additional 542 shares during the period. 14.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

News Price Performance

NASDAQ NWS opened at $33.87 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.72 and a current ratio of 1.84. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $33.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $32.37. News Corporation has a 52-week low of $26.25 and a 52-week high of $35.58. The company has a market cap of $19.14 billion, a PE ratio of 16.28 and a beta of 1.18.

News (NASDAQ:NWS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.09 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that News Corporation will post 1.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

News Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Zacks Research raised shares of News to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy”.

About News

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.