Proficio Capital Partners LLC Acquires Shares of 98,990 News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 98,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,726,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Barclays PLC raised its position in News by 124.0% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 14,713,823 shares of the company’s stock valued at $391,832,000 after purchasing an additional 8,144,856 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of News by 374.6% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,160,045 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,488,000 after purchasing an additional 1,704,944 shares during the last quarter. Whale Rock Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in News in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $44,585,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in News by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,799,596 shares of the company’s stock worth $689,397,000 after acquiring an additional 1,476,224 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. raised its stake in News by 1,815.4% during the 3rd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 1,413,158 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,632,000 after buying an additional 1,339,379 shares during the last quarter. 66.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

News Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of News stock opened at $26.80 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.78. The company has a market cap of $15.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.71 and a beta of 1.34. News Co. has a fifty-two week low of $22.65 and a fifty-two week high of $30.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a current ratio of 1.73.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.04. News had a net margin of 4.22% and a return on equity of 5.31%. As a group, equities analysts predict that News Co. will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

News Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.49%. News’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.40%.

About News

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.