Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Sells 51,300 Shares of News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA)

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund cut its position in shares of News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 32.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 108,276 shares of the company’s stock after selling 51,300 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in News were worth $2,982,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Alberta Investment Management Corp bought a new stake in shares of News during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $9,639,000. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund raised its stake in News by 57.4% during the fourth quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 17,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $486,000 after buying an additional 6,428 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its stake in News by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 57,744 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,590,000 after buying an additional 2,558 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. raised its stake in News by 18.5% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 3,334 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,000 after buying an additional 521 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ABC Arbitrage SA purchased a new position in News during the fourth quarter valued at $1,210,000. 66.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

News Stock Down 1.0 %

NWSA stock opened at $28.08 on Thursday. News Co. has a 1-year low of $22.65 and a 1-year high of $30.69. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $28.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $27.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.47 and a beta of 1.35.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities analysts forecast that News Co. will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

News Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. News’s payout ratio is currently 27.40%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on NWSA. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded News to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com upgraded News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on News from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Loop Capital decreased their price target on News from $44.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on News in a research note on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $36.00 price target for the company. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $39.25.

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.