Barclays PLC Boosts Stake in News Corporation $NWSA

Barclays PLC boosted its position in News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 39.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,875,615 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,214,562 shares during the period. Barclays PLC owned approximately 2.63% of News worth $456,830,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of News by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 42,496 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,305,000 after acquiring an additional 395 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC grew its position in News by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 14,276 shares of the company’s stock valued at $438,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Kaufman Rossin Wealth LLC increased its stake in News by 4.3% in the third quarter. Kaufman Rossin Wealth LLC now owns 11,161 shares of the company’s stock worth $343,000 after purchasing an additional 465 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of News by 1.3% during the third quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 36,568 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,123,000 after purchasing an additional 481 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Choreo LLC boosted its stake in shares of News by 6.4% during the second quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 8,961 shares of the company’s stock valued at $266,000 after purchasing an additional 541 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

News Price Performance

Shares of NWSA stock opened at $24.28 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $25.13 and its 200 day moving average is $26.65. News Corporation has a 1-year low of $22.20 and a 1-year high of $31.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.81 and a quick ratio of 1.69. The company has a market cap of $13.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.96 and a beta of 0.98.

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

News Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of News from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 14th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of News from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Zacks Research cut News from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on News from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average 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.