News Corporation $NWSA Shares Sold by BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A.

BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. trimmed its holdings in News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 9.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,275,674 shares of the company’s stock after selling 128,544 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. owned 0.23% of News worth $39,176,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake 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 during the last quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP raised its stake in shares of News by 7.3% during the second quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 29,170,531 shares of the company’s stock worth $866,948,000 after purchasing an additional 1,980,941 shares during the last quarter. 59 North Capital Management LP lifted its holdings 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 worth $375,984,000 after purchasing an additional 1,503,213 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 208,692 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in News by 488.0% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 8,124,507 shares of the company’s stock valued at $241,054,000 after buying an additional 6,742,836 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on NWSA. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of News from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of News from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on News from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 9th. Zacks Research cut News from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $32.40 price target on News in a report on Friday, February 6th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.02.

News Stock Up 0.0%

NWSA opened at $23.36 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 1.81. The company has a market cap of $12.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.51 and a beta of 0.99. News Corporation has a one year low of $22.20 and a one year high of $31.61. The business’s fifty day moving average is $25.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.02.

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

News Dividend Announcement

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

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.