KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Takes $6.18 Million Position in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA)

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in shares of News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 224,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,177,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Qsemble Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of News in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $990,000. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in News by 124.0% in 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 in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in News by 1.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,337,650 shares of the company’s stock valued at $115,512,000 after acquiring an additional 53,550 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in News by 26.4% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 180,283 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,801,000 after acquiring an additional 37,702 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of News by 381.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 192,936 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,138,000 after acquiring an additional 152,864 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on NWSA shares. Citigroup began coverage on shares of News in a research report on Friday, January 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $36.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com upgraded shares of News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Guggenheim increased 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. UBS Group upgraded News from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded News to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $39.25.

News Stock Performance

NWSA stock opened at $27.46 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $28.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.78. News Co. has a fifty-two week low of $22.65 and a fifty-two week high of $30.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.58 billion, a PE ratio of 37.62 and a beta of 1.34.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 5.31% and a net margin of 4.22%. Analysts forecast that News Co. will post 0.94 EPS for the current year.

News Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. News’s dividend payout ratio is 27.40%.

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.