News Co. (NASDAQ:NWS) Shares Sold by Headlands Technologies LLC

Headlands Technologies LLC lowered its stake in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWS) by 8.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,221 shares of the company’s stock after selling 790 shares during the quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC’s holdings in News were worth $250,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of News in the fourth quarter valued at $14,338,000. State Street Corp grew its position in News by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,069,813 shares of the company’s stock valued at $198,254,000 after acquiring an additional 295,631 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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 purchasing an additional 249,659 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of News by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,535,237 shares of the company’s stock valued at $198,867,000 after purchasing an additional 138,680 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of News by 17.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 845,246 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,721,000 after purchasing an additional 125,852 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 14.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

News Trading Down 5.9 %

NASDAQ:NWS opened at $27.70 on Friday. News Co. has a 12-month low of $23.99 and a 12-month high of $35.25. The firm has a market cap of $15.72 billion, a PE ratio of 37.95 and a beta of 1.26. 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 fifty day moving average price of $31.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.66.

News (NASDAQ:NWS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.34 by ($0.01). News had a net margin of 4.22% and a return on equity of 5.31%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that News Co. will post 1.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

News Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a dividend yield of 0.6%. 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.