News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) Shares Sold by Handelsbanken Fonder AB

Handelsbanken Fonder AB trimmed its holdings in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 6.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 139,100 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,600 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in News were worth $3,831,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in News by 124.0% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 14,713,823 shares of the company’s stock worth $391,832,000 after buying an additional 8,144,856 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in News by 374.6% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,160,045 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,488,000 after buying an additional 1,704,944 shares during the period. Whale Rock Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in News during the 3rd quarter worth about $44,585,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in 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 buying an additional 1,476,224 shares during the period. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. raised its holdings in 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 buying an additional 1,339,379 shares during the period. 66.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded News to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on News from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Loop Capital dropped 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. UBS Group upgraded News from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on News in a report on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $36.00 target price on the stock. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $39.25.

News Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ NWSA opened at $28.53 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $16.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.08 and a beta of 1.35. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $28.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.78. News Co. has a 52 week low of $22.65 and a 52 week high of $30.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a current ratio of 1.73.

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

News Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Investors 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 1.40%. News’s payout ratio is 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.