Xponance Inc. Buys 14,942 Shares of News Co. (NASDAQ:NWS)

Xponance Inc. increased its position in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWS) by 99.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 29,912 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,942 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in News were worth $910,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of NWS. State Street Corp lifted its stake in News by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,069,813 shares of the company’s stock worth $198,254,000 after purchasing an additional 295,631 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of News by 101.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 496,926 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,889,000 after purchasing an additional 249,659 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of News by 17.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 845,246 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,721,000 after buying an additional 125,852 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in News by 362.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 94,940 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,654,000 after buying an additional 74,405 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in News by 27.5% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 199,773 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,584,000 after acquiring an additional 43,107 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 14.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded News to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st.

News Stock Performance

News stock opened at $30.75 on Tuesday. News Co. has a fifty-two week low of $23.99 and a fifty-two week high of $35.25. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $32.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $30.55. The stock has a market cap of $17.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.12 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a current ratio of 1.73.

News (NASDAQ:NWS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by ($0.01). News had a net margin of 4.22% and a return on equity of 5.31%. On average, equities research analysts expect that News Co. will post 1.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

News Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. News’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.