News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) is Independent Franchise Partners LLP’s 9th Largest Position

Independent Franchise Partners LLP boosted its stake in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 11.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,617,259 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,812,080 shares during the quarter. News comprises approximately 5.5% of Independent Franchise Partners LLP’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Independent Franchise Partners LLP owned 4.68% of News worth $733,039,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC increased its position in News by 124.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 14,713,823 shares of the company’s stock worth $391,832,000 after purchasing an additional 8,144,856 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of News during the 4th quarter valued at about $172,357,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of News by 374.6% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,704,944 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd grew its position in News by 53.7% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 2,609,416 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,863,000 after acquiring an additional 911,343 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in News by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 50,952,317 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,403,227,000 after acquiring an additional 632,721 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

News Trading Up 2.3 %

NWSA stock opened at $26.19 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.86 billion, a PE ratio of 35.88 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.65. News Co. has a 12 month low of $22.65 and a 12 month high of $30.69. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $27.57 and its 200 day moving average is $27.72.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, research analysts anticipate that News Co. will post 0.94 EPS for the current year.

News Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 12th. News’s payout ratio is 27.40%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on NWSA. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on News from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of News from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Citigroup began coverage on shares of News in a report on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $36.00 target price for the company. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of News to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Loop Capital decreased their price objective on shares of News from $44.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, News currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $38.80.

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.