News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) Shares Sold by United Capital Financial Advisors LLC

United Capital Financial Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 4.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,370 shares of the company’s stock after selling 563 shares during the quarter. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in News were worth $368,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of NWSA. Dodge & Cox raised its holdings in News by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 11,662,685 shares of the company’s stock worth $321,190,000 after buying an additional 1,245,278 shares during the period. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan acquired a new stake in shares of News during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $132,000. Mariner LLC lifted its position in shares of News by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 59,026 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,626,000 after acquiring an additional 631 shares in the last quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP boosted its stake in News by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 26,617,259 shares of the company’s stock worth $733,039,000 after purchasing an additional 2,812,080 shares during the period. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC purchased a new position in News during the 4th quarter worth approximately $214,000. 66.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NWSA has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Seaport Res Ptn raised News to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Guggenheim lifted their target price on News from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of News from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group raised shares of News from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of News in a research report on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $36.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, News presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $38.80.

News Price Performance

Shares of NWSA opened at $25.35 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a market cap of $14.38 billion, a PE ratio of 34.73 and a beta of 1.24. News Co. has a twelve month low of $22.65 and a twelve month high of $30.69. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $27.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $27.71.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (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%. As a group, research analysts expect that News Co. will post 0.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

News Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 12th. News’s dividend payout ratio is 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.