News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) Stake Trimmed by Pinnacle Associates Ltd.

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. lowered its stake in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 1.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 102,596 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,545 shares during the quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.’s holdings in News were worth $2,829,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of NWSA. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of News in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in News in the 1st quarter worth approximately $34,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in News in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $46,000. Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in News by 125.8% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,727 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 962 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in News in the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

News Stock Performance

Shares of NWSA stock traded up $0.48 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $28.33. 2,306,296 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,722,467. News Co. has a fifty-two week low of $19.25 and a fifty-two week high of $28.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 78.69 and a beta of 1.33. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $27.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $26.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.49 billion. News had a return on equity of 4.28% and a net margin of 2.09%. News’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.14 earnings per share. Analysts predict that News Co. will post 0.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

News Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a Semi-Annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 11th. This represents a yield of 0.7%. News’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.56%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on News from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th.

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 in six segments: Digital Real Estate Services, Subscription Video Services, Dow Jones, Book Publishing, News Media, and Other.