Blue Trust Inc. Trims Position in The New York Times Company (NYSE:NYT)

Blue Trust Inc. lessened its position in shares of The New York Times Company (NYSE:NYT) by 66.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,880 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,688 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in New York Times were worth $98,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in New York Times by 2.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,074,514 shares of the company’s stock worth $338,168,000 after buying an additional 118,479 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in New York Times by 0.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,785,844 shares of the company’s stock worth $266,428,000 after buying an additional 32,905 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in New York Times by 4.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,932,816 shares of the company’s stock worth $218,978,000 after buying an additional 154,509 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in New York Times by 1.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,353,792 shares of the company’s stock worth $187,544,000 after buying an additional 49,853 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in New York Times by 0.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,862,569 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,689,000 after buying an additional 7,654 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on NYT shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on New York Times from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on New York Times from $56.00 to $54.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on New York Times from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded New York Times from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.71.

New York Times Trading Down 1.6 %

NYSE:NYT opened at $47.99 on Friday. The New York Times Company has a 12-month low of $41.55 and a 12-month high of $58.16. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $52.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $53.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.01.

New York Times (NYSE:NYT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.06. New York Times had a return on equity of 18.51% and a net margin of 11.36%. On average, research analysts predict that The New York Times Company will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

New York Times Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. This is a positive change from New York Times’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.50%. New York Times’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.21%.

About New York Times

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.