DnB Asset Management AS Increases Stock Holdings in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA)

DnB Asset Management AS boosted its position in shares of News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 60,993 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,425 shares during the period. DnB Asset Management AS’s holdings in News were worth $1,680,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of NWSA. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 8,144,856 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in News in the fourth quarter valued at $172,357,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in News by 374.6% in 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 period. Whale Rock Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of News during the 3rd quarter worth $44,585,000. Finally, State Street Corp increased its position in shares of News by 6.1% during the 3rd 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. 66.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on NWSA. Loop Capital decreased their target price on shares of News from $44.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. UBS Group raised shares of News from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com raised News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Guggenheim raised their price target on News from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on News in a report on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $36.00 price objective on the stock. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, News currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.25.

News Stock Down 0.8 %

News stock opened at $27.00 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.99 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. News Co. has a twelve month low of $22.65 and a twelve month high of $30.69. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $28.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.81.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, equities analysts expect that News Co. will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

News Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.48%. News’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.