Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Lowers Position in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA)

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund lowered its holdings in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 32.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 108,276 shares of the company’s stock after selling 51,300 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in News were worth $2,982,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of NWSA. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 8,144,856 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of News by 374.6% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,160,045 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,488,000 after buying an additional 1,704,944 shares in the last quarter. Whale Rock Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of News during the 3rd quarter valued at about $44,585,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of News by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,799,596 shares of the company’s stock valued at $689,397,000 after buying an additional 1,476,224 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. raised 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 valued at $37,632,000 after buying an additional 1,339,379 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

News Price Performance

Shares of NWSA stock opened at $28.08 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $15.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.47 and a beta of 1.35. News Co. has a fifty-two week low of $22.65 and a fifty-two week high of $30.69. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $28.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $27.80. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data 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%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that News Co. will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.42%. News’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.40%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NWSA has been the topic of a number of research reports. Loop Capital decreased their price objective on News from $44.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 23rd. StockNews.com raised News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Guggenheim raised their price objective on News from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. UBS Group raised News from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on News in a research report on Friday, January 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $36.00 price target on the stock. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.25.

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.