Persistent Asset Partners Ltd Invests $951,000 in News Corporation $NWS

Persistent Asset Partners Ltd purchased a new position in News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWS) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 27,513 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $951,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of News by 23.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,819,105 shares of the company’s stock worth $304,700,000 after purchasing an additional 1,657,727 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in News by 2.6% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 846,279 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,036,000 after buying an additional 21,638 shares in the last quarter. Metropolis Capital Ltd grew its position in News by 11.9% in the third quarter. Metropolis Capital Ltd now owns 766,116 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,469,000 after buying an additional 81,387 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of News by 14.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 661,412 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,852,000 after buying an additional 81,986 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Perpetual Ltd bought a new stake in shares of News during the 3rd quarter worth $19,456,000. Institutional investors own 14.63% of the company’s stock.

News Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of News stock opened at $26.19 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. News Corporation has a 1 year low of $25.49 and a 1 year high of $35.58. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $29.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.75. The company has a market cap of $14.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.90 and a beta of 0.97.

News (NASDAQ:NWS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.15. News had a return on equity of 5.94% and a net margin of 13.35%.The company had revenue of $2.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.30 billion. As a group, analysts expect that News Corporation will post 1.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

News Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 73.0%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 11th. News’s payout ratio is currently 9.85%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NWS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Zacks Research raised News from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of News from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and one has assigned a Buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Strong Buy”.

News Profile

News Corporation (NASDAQ: NWS) is a global media and information services company engaged in news and digital real estate, book publishing and other media businesses. The company’s operations include print and digital newsbrands, business and financial information services, consumer platforms for property listings, and a major book publishing arm. Through its subsidiaries and brands, News Corp produces news content, market and financial reporting, online real-estate marketplaces and trade and consumer publishing products.

Key areas of activity include news and information, where the company publishes national and regional newspapers and operates business information services; book publishing through a well-known global publisher; and property-related digital businesses that operate online marketplaces for real estate listings.