Credit Industriel ET Commercial Sells 286,660 Shares of News Corporation $NWSA

Credit Industriel ET Commercial trimmed its stake in News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 66.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 146,001 shares of the company’s stock after selling 286,660 shares during the period. Credit Industriel ET Commercial’s holdings in News were worth $4,484,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of NWSA. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in News by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,171,790 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,550,546,000 after acquiring an additional 407,293 shares in the last quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP lifted its stake in shares of News by 7.3% in the 2nd quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 29,170,531 shares of the company’s stock valued at $866,948,000 after purchasing an additional 1,980,941 shares during the period. 59 North Capital Management LP boosted its position in shares of News by 13.5% during the second quarter. 59 North Capital Management LP now owns 12,650,867 shares of the company’s stock valued at $375,984,000 after purchasing an additional 1,503,213 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in News by 2.1% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,154,121 shares of the company’s stock worth $300,578,000 after purchasing an additional 208,692 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in News by 488.0% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 8,124,507 shares of the company’s stock worth $241,054,000 after purchasing an additional 6,742,836 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

News Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:NWSA opened at $22.72 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.81 and a quick ratio of 1.69. News Corporation has a 1 year low of $22.20 and a 1 year high of $31.61. The company has a market cap of $12.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.19 and a beta of 0.99. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $25.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $27.16.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.30 billion. News had a return on equity of 5.94% and a net margin of 13.35%.News’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.33 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that News Corporation will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current year.

News Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a yield of 83.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 11th. News’s payout ratio is 9.85%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NWSA has been the subject of several research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Guggenheim cut their price objective on shares of News from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Zacks Research lowered shares of News from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on News from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on News from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.02.

News Profile

News Corporation (NASDAQ: NWSA) is a global diversified media and information services company headquartered in New York City. It operates through two principal segments: News and Information Services, and Digital Real Estate Services. The company’s news and information division oversees a portfolio of leading newspapers, magazines and digital platforms, offering content across print and online channels. Its properties include Dow Jones, publisher of The Wall Street Journal and Barron’s, News UK titles such as The Times and The Sun, as well as News Corp Australia mastheads.

In addition to its journalism assets, News Corp is a significant player in book publishing through HarperCollins, one of the world’s largest consumer publishers.