Harspring Capital Management LLC Lowers Stake in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA)

Harspring Capital Management LLC lessened its holdings in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 821,500 shares of the company’s stock after selling 48,500 shares during the period. News makes up 5.7% of Harspring Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Harspring Capital Management LLC owned about 0.14% of News worth $22,649,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Contour Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of News by 97.8% in the 4th quarter. Contour Asset Management LLC now owns 3,442,650 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,517,000 after buying an additional 1,702,483 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in News by 2.2% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,855,605 shares of the company’s stock worth $78,729,000 after acquiring an additional 61,417 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of News by 249.7% during the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,206,990 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,182,000 after acquiring an additional 1,575,803 shares during the period. Junto Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of News in the 4th quarter valued at $43,928,000. Finally, Fort Baker Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of News by 48.6% in the 4th quarter. Fort Baker Capital Management LP now owns 1,695,158 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,616,000 after purchasing an additional 554,365 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on NWSA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of News from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Loop Capital boosted their target price on News from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $38.00.

News Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ NWSA opened at $26.34 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market cap of $15.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 73.17 and a beta of 1.34. News Co. has a 12-month low of $19.25 and a 12-month high of $28.62. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.48.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.01. News had a net margin of 2.64% and a return on equity of 4.51%. The business had revenue of $2.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.14 earnings per share. News’s revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that News Co. will post 0.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

News Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a Semi-Annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 11th. This represents a dividend yield of 0.7%. News’s payout ratio is currently 55.56%.

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 in six segments: Digital Real Estate Services, Subscription Video Services, Dow Jones, Book Publishing, News Media, and Other.