Mint Tower Capital Management B.V. Takes $640,000 Position in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA)

Mint Tower Capital Management B.V. acquired a new stake in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 23,256 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $640,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in NWSA. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in News by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 50,952,317 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,403,227,000 after acquiring an additional 632,721 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew 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 worth $689,397,000 after purchasing an additional 1,476,224 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in News by 124.0% during the 3rd 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in News by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,622,246 shares of the company’s stock valued at $255,457,000 after purchasing an additional 90,419 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in News by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,420,227 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,733,000 after buying an additional 82,577 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group upgraded News from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of News to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Guggenheim increased their price target on shares of News from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Loop Capital reduced their target price on News from $44.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, News currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.25.

News Stock Performance

Shares of NWSA opened at $27.47 on Thursday. News Co. has a 52 week low of $22.65 and a 52 week high of $30.69. The company has a quick ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The stock has a market cap of $15.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.63 and a beta of 1.34. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $28.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $27.78.

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

News Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be paid 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 1.46%. News’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.