Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Makes New Investment in The New York Times Company (NYSE:NYT)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. purchased a new stake in The New York Times Company (NYSE:NYT) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 4,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $211,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in New York Times during the fourth quarter worth $89,754,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of New York Times during the 4th quarter valued at about $217,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its holdings in shares of New York Times by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 173,109 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,481,000 after purchasing an additional 11,516 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its position in New York Times by 26.5% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 50,052 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,452,000 after purchasing an additional 10,484 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in New York Times by 39.4% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 24,379 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,194,000 after purchasing an additional 6,896 shares during the period. 95.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

New York Times Stock Performance

Shares of NYT opened at $54.49 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $53.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.41. The New York Times Company has a 1 year low of $39.73 and a 1 year high of $56.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.95 billion, a PE ratio of 36.33 and a beta of 1.03.

New York Times (NYSE:NYT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $625.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $624.82 million. New York Times had a net margin of 10.81% and a return on equity of 17.45%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.38 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that The New York Times Company will post 1.9 earnings per share for the current year.

New York Times Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 9th were paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 9th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.95%. New York Times’s payout ratio is 34.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Levien Meredith A. Kopit sold 18,300 shares of New York Times stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.92, for a total value of $986,736.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 101,772 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,487,546.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other New York Times news, CEO Levien Meredith A. Kopit sold 18,300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.92, for a total value of $986,736.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 101,772 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,487,546.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO William Bardeen sold 2,000 shares of New York Times stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.56, for a total transaction of $109,120.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 10,315 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $562,786.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NYT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of New York Times from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Barclays raised their target price on New York Times from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $50.67.

New York Times Company Profile

The New York Times Company, together with its subsidiaries, creates, collects, and distributes news and information worldwide. The company operates through two segments, The New York Times Group and The Athletic. It offers The New York Times (The Times) through company's mobile application, website, printed newspaper, and associated content, such as podcast.