Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Reduces Holdings in News Corporation $NWSA

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership reduced its position in News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 13.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,795,585 shares of the company’s stock after selling 276,481 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership owned approximately 0.32% of News worth $53,365,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of NWSA. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of News by 0.8% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,171,790 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,550,546,000 after acquiring an additional 407,293 shares in the last quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP increased its holdings in News by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 27,189,590 shares of the company’s stock worth $740,101,000 after purchasing an additional 572,331 shares during the last quarter. Dodge & Cox raised its position in shares of News by 18.7% in the 1st quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 13,846,298 shares of the company’s stock valued at $376,896,000 after purchasing an additional 2,183,613 shares in the last quarter. 59 North Capital Management LP boosted its stake in shares of News by 24.4% during the 1st quarter. 59 North Capital Management LP now owns 11,147,654 shares of the company’s stock valued at $303,439,000 after buying an additional 2,185,542 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of News by 2.1% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,154,121 shares of the company’s stock worth $300,578,000 after buying an additional 208,692 shares in the last quarter. 66.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

News Price Performance

NWSA opened at $24.80 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $27.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.41. News Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $23.38 and a fifty-two week high of $31.61. The firm has a market cap of $13.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.98 and a beta of 1.15.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. News had a return on equity of 5.68% and a net margin of 13.80%.News’s quarterly revenue was down 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.21 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that News Corporation will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on NWSA shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of News in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of News from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. Zacks Research cut shares of News from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Macquarie reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $32.70 price target on shares of News in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Guggenheim cut their price objective on News from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, News has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.28.

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.