Arizona State Retirement System Sells 1,554 Shares of News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA)

Arizona State Retirement System lessened its stake in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 103,302 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,554 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in News were worth $2,848,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. US Bancorp DE lifted its position in shares of News by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 18,406 shares of the company’s stock worth $482,000 after acquiring an additional 424 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its position in News by 3.5% in the first quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 13,898 shares of the company’s stock worth $364,000 after purchasing an additional 465 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in News by 3.7% during the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 13,802 shares of the company’s stock worth $381,000 after buying an additional 496 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its holdings in News by 7.8% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 7,339 shares of the company’s stock valued at $202,000 after buying an additional 532 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of News by 16.7% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,156 shares of the company’s stock valued at $109,000 after buying an additional 596 shares in the last quarter. 66.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of News from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th.

News Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NWSA opened at $26.60 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.33. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $27.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.49. News Co. has a fifty-two week low of $19.25 and a fifty-two week high of $28.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 73.89 and a beta of 1.34.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.01. News had a net margin of 2.64% and a return on equity of 4.51%. The business had revenue of $2.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.14 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that News Co. will post 0.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

News Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a Semi-Annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 11th. News’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.56%.

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 in six segments: Digital Real Estate Services, Subscription Video Services, Dow Jones, Book Publishing, News Media, and Other.