ING Groep NV Has $6.41 Million Stock Position in News Corporation $NWSA

ING Groep NV lifted its holdings in shares of News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 640.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 208,768 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 180,572 shares during the period. ING Groep NV’s holdings in News were worth $6,411,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. bought a new stake in News during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC purchased a new position in shares of News during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in News during the third quarter worth $35,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in News by 87.9% in the 3rd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,396 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 1,121 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in News by 160.1% during the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,361 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,000 after acquiring an additional 2,069 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on NWSA shares. Guggenheim reduced their target price on shares of News from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of News from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Weiss Ratings raised shares of News from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley set a $32.40 target price on News in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded News from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.02.

News Stock Down 3.5%

NWSA opened at $22.40 on Friday. News Corporation has a twelve month low of $22.20 and a twelve month high of $31.61. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $25.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $27.24. The stock has a market cap of $12.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.03 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.07. News had a net margin of 13.35% and a return on equity of 5.94%. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.33 EPS. News’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that News Corporation will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current year.

News Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 83.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 11th. News’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.85%.

News Profile

News Corporation (NASDAQ: NWSA) is a global diversified media and information services company headquartered in New York City. It operates through two principal segments: News and Information Services, and Digital Real Estate Services. The company’s news and information division oversees a portfolio of leading newspapers, magazines and digital platforms, offering content across print and online channels. Its properties include Dow Jones, publisher of The Wall Street Journal and Barron’s, News UK titles such as The Times and The Sun, as well as News Corp Australia mastheads.

In addition to its journalism assets, News Corp is a significant player in book publishing through HarperCollins, one of the world’s largest consumer publishers.