The New York Times Company (NYSE:NYT) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of The New York Times Company (NYSE:NYT) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $56.00.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on New York Times from $56.00 to $54.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of New York Times from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd.

Institutional Trading of New York Times

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in New York Times by 1.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,353,792 shares of the company’s stock valued at $187,544,000 after acquiring an additional 49,853 shares during the last quarter. Clark & Stuart Inc purchased a new stake in shares of New York Times in the 4th quarter valued at about $8,490,000. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of New York Times by 236.0% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 13,985 shares of the company’s stock valued at $728,000 after purchasing an additional 9,823 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in New York Times during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,200,000. Finally, Figure 8 Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new position in New York Times during the fourth quarter worth approximately $492,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.37% of the company’s stock.

New York Times Stock Down 3.4 %

New York Times stock opened at $45.83 on Tuesday. New York Times has a 52-week low of $41.55 and a 52-week high of $58.16. The firm has a market cap of $7.48 billion, a PE ratio of 25.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s 50 day moving average is $49.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $52.47.

New York Times (NYSE:NYT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.06. New York Times had a return on equity of 18.51% and a net margin of 11.36%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that New York Times will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

New York Times Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This is a boost from New York Times’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. New York Times’s payout ratio is presently 40.45%.

New York Times Company Profile

The New York Times Company, together with its subsidiaries, creates, collects, and distributes news and information worldwide. The company operates through two segments, The New York Times Group and The Athletic. It offers The New York Times (The Times) through company’s mobile application, website, printed newspaper, and associated content, such as podcast.