Securian Asset Management Inc. Sells 561 Shares of News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA)

Securian Asset Management Inc. lessened its position in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 20,363 shares of the company’s stock after selling 561 shares during the quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in News were worth $561,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of NWSA. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in News by 124.0% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 14,713,823 shares of the company’s stock worth $391,832,000 after acquiring an additional 8,144,856 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in News by 374.6% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,160,045 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,488,000 after acquiring an additional 1,704,944 shares during the period. Whale Rock Capital Management LLC bought a new position in News in the 3rd quarter worth $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 period. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. increased its holdings in shares of 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 worth $37,632,000 after purchasing an additional 1,339,379 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on NWSA. Citigroup began coverage on shares of News in a report on Friday, January 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $36.00 price objective on the stock. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of News from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. UBS Group upgraded shares of News from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Loop Capital dropped their price objective on shares of News from $44.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $39.25.

News Price Performance

Shares of News stock opened at $26.98 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a current ratio of 1.73. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $28.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.80. News Co. has a twelve month low of $22.65 and a twelve month high of $30.69. The firm has a market cap of $15.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.96 and a beta of 1.34.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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, research analysts expect that News Co. will post 0.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

News Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be given 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%.

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.