News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) Shares Bought by Sterling Capital Management LLC

Sterling Capital Management LLC grew its stake in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 55.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,555 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 8,046 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in News were worth $621,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of News by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 50,952,317 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,403,227,000 after acquiring an additional 632,721 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its stake in News by 124.0% in 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of News by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,857,139 shares of the company’s stock valued at $270,798,000 after buying an additional 234,893 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of News during the fourth quarter worth about $172,357,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of News by 1.9% during the fourth 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 last quarter. 66.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

News Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NWSA opened at $25.86 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The stock has a market cap of $14.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.43 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $27.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $27.70. News Co. has a 52 week low of $22.65 and a 52 week high of $30.69.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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, research analysts forecast that News Co. will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

News Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.55%. News’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.40%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NWSA has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup began coverage on News in a research note on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $36.00 target price on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of News to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Loop Capital reduced their target price on shares of News from $44.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of News from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price objective on News from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $38.80.

News Company 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.