Vanguard Group Inc. Has $1.40 Billion Stake in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA)

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 50,952,317 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 632,721 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 8.96% of News worth $1,403,227,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of NWSA. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of News by 6.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,799,596 shares of the company’s stock worth $689,397,000 after acquiring an additional 1,476,224 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 8,144,856 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of News by 0.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,622,246 shares of the company’s stock worth $255,457,000 after purchasing an additional 90,419 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of News by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,420,227 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,733,000 after purchasing an additional 82,577 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of News by 374.6% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup began coverage on News in a research note on Friday, January 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $36.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of News from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded News to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group raised News from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $39.25.

News Stock Down 1.9 %

NWSA opened at $26.94 on Friday. News Co. has a twelve month low of $22.65 and a twelve month high of $30.69. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $28.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $27.77. The stock has a market cap of $15.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.90 and a beta of 1.34. 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 (NASDAQ:NWSA) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 5.31% and a net margin of 4.22%. As a group, equities analysts expect that News Co. will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current year.

News Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.48%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. News’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.40%.

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