News Co. (NASDAQ:NWS) Stake Lessened by Howard Capital Management Inc.

Howard Capital Management Inc. cut its stake in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWS) by 5.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 143,272 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,149 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in News were worth $4,360,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in NWS. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its holdings in News by 4.6% during the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 7,986 shares of the company’s stock worth $223,000 after buying an additional 348 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its holdings in News by 1.8% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 27,063 shares of the company’s stock worth $756,000 after buying an additional 479 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in News by 22.9% during the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 2,668 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,000 after buying an additional 497 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its holdings in News by 123.7% during the fourth quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 935 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 517 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dorsey Wright & Associates boosted its holdings in News by 0.5% during the third quarter. Dorsey Wright & Associates now owns 109,455 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,059,000 after buying an additional 549 shares in the last quarter. 14.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

News Trading Down 1.9 %

News stock opened at $32.30 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $31.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.12. News Co. has a 52 week low of $23.99 and a 52 week high of $35.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a current ratio of 1.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.25 and a beta of 1.38.

News (NASDAQ:NWS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.33 EPS 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%. Research analysts forecast that News Co. will post 1.03 EPS for the current year.

News Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a yield of 0.6%. News’s payout ratio is 27.40%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.