Yousif Capital Management LLC Sells 998 Shares of News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA)

Yousif Capital Management LLC lowered its position in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 49,183 shares of the company’s stock after selling 998 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in News were worth $1,354,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of News by 6.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,799,596 shares of the company’s stock valued at $689,397,000 after acquiring an additional 1,476,224 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its position in News by 124.0% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 14,713,823 shares of the company’s stock worth $391,832,000 after purchasing an additional 8,144,856 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in News by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,622,246 shares of the company’s stock worth $255,457,000 after purchasing an additional 90,419 shares during the last quarter. Metropolis Capital Ltd raised its position in News by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. Metropolis Capital Ltd now owns 6,779,137 shares of the company’s stock worth $180,528,000 after purchasing an additional 555,789 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in News by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,337,650 shares of the company’s stock worth $115,512,000 after purchasing an additional 53,550 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on NWSA. StockNews.com upgraded shares of News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Citigroup began coverage on shares of News in a report on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $36.00 price target for the company. Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of News from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of News to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of News from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.25.

News Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NWSA opened at $29.36 on Thursday. News Co. has a 52 week low of $22.65 and a 52 week high of $30.03. The firm has a market cap of $16.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.22 and a beta of 1.35. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $28.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.73.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.04. News had a net margin of 4.22% and a return on equity of 5.31%. On average, analysts forecast that News Co. will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current year.

News Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.36%. News’s payout ratio is presently 27.40%.

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