Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Takes Position in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA)

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. bought a new stake in shares of News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 34,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $945,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of News by 2,392.9% during the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 1,005 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in News in the 3rd quarter worth about $39,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in News in the 4th quarter worth about $49,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in News by 49.7% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,989 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 660 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in News in the 3rd quarter worth about $85,000. Institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of News to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Loop Capital dropped their price target on shares of News from $44.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of News from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. UBS Group upgraded shares of News from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on News in a research report on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $36.00 target price for the company. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $39.25.

News Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NWSA opened at $27.04 on Friday. News Co. has a fifty-two week low of $22.65 and a fifty-two week high of $30.69. The firm has a market cap of $15.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.04 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a current ratio of 1.73. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.76.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.04. News had a net margin of 4.22% and a return on equity of 5.31%. On average, analysts expect that News Co. will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current year.

News Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. News’s payout ratio is currently 27.40%.

About News

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.