ING Groep NV Has $2.17 Million Stock Holdings in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA)

ING Groep NV lowered its stake in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 81.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 78,894 shares of the company’s stock after selling 350,704 shares during the quarter. ING Groep NV’s holdings in News were worth $2,173,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 8,144,856 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in News by 374.6% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,160,045 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,488,000 after purchasing an additional 1,704,944 shares during the period. Whale Rock Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of News during the third quarter worth $44,585,000. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of News by 6.1% in 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 during the period. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. increased its position in shares of News by 1,815.4% in 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. 66.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

News Trading Down 1.1 %

NASDAQ:NWSA opened at $28.53 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. News Co. has a twelve month low of $22.65 and a twelve month high of $30.69. The company has a market cap of $16.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.08 and a beta of 1.35. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $28.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $27.77.

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

News Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. News’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.40%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on NWSA shares. Seaport Res Ptn raised News to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com upgraded News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup started coverage on shares of News in a report on Friday, January 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $36.00 target price on the stock. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of News from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Loop Capital dropped their price objective on shares of News from $44.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Six 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, News 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.