News Co. (NASDAQ:NWS) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

News Co. (NASDAQ:NWS) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,470,000 shares, an increase of 18.9% from the January 15th total of 3,760,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 796,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.6 days. Approximately 4.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded News to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st.

News Price Performance

NWS traded up $0.56 during trading on Friday, hitting $34.86. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 721,106 shares, compared to its average volume of 744,454. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.75 and a beta of 1.38. News has a 12 month low of $23.99 and a 12 month high of $34.97. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $31.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $29.90.

News (NASDAQ:NWS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by ($0.01). News had a return on equity of 5.31% and a net margin of 4.22%. Sell-side analysts forecast that News will post 0.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

News Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a semi-annual 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a dividend yield of 0.6%. News’s payout ratio is currently 27.40%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On News

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Independent Franchise Partners LLP increased its holdings in News by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 9,649,717 shares of the company’s stock valued at $293,641,000 after purchasing an additional 627,774 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of News during the fourth quarter worth about $14,338,000. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of News by 4.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,069,813 shares of the company’s stock worth $198,254,000 after buying an additional 295,631 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of News by 101.0% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 496,926 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,889,000 after buying an additional 249,659 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in News by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,965,125 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,799,000 after purchasing an additional 160,922 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 14.63% of the company’s stock.

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.