News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) Shares Sold by Independent Franchise Partners LLP

Independent Franchise Partners LLP trimmed its position in shares of News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 15.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,306,600 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,510,551 shares during the period. News makes up about 6.2% of Independent Franchise Partners LLP’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Independent Franchise Partners LLP owned about 4.27% of News worth $670,133,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Contour Asset Management LLC increased its stake in News by 97.8% during 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 during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of 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 during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of News by 249.7% in 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 in the last quarter. Junto Capital Management LP purchased a new position in News in the fourth quarter valued at $43,928,000. Finally, Fort Baker Capital Management LP grew its stake in News by 48.6% during 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 in the last quarter. 66.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on News from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Loop Capital lifted their price target on shares of News from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $38.00.

News Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ NWSA opened at $26.34 on Friday. News Co. has a 1 year low of $19.25 and a 1 year high of $28.62. The company has a market capitalization of $15.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 73.17 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.33. The business has a 50-day moving average of $27.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $26.48.

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

News Announces Dividend

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

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