Kentucky Retirement Systems Sells 358 Shares of News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA)

Kentucky Retirement Systems lowered its stake in shares of News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,998 shares of the company’s stock after selling 358 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in News were worth $716,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Seelaus Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of News by 3.8% during the third quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 11,399 shares of the company’s stock valued at $304,000 after purchasing an additional 417 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of News by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 11,576 shares of the company’s stock valued at $319,000 after purchasing an additional 422 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of News by 18.5% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 3,334 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,000 after purchasing an additional 521 shares during the period. Pathstone Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of News by 1.2% during the third quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 60,509 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,612,000 after purchasing an additional 730 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its holdings in shares of News by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 42,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,177,000 after purchasing an additional 788 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on NWSA. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on shares of News from $44.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 23rd. UBS Group upgraded shares of News from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of News from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of News in a report on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $36.00 target price on the stock. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, News has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $39.25.

News Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NWSA stock opened at $28.46 on Tuesday. News Co. has a 52-week low of $22.65 and a 52-week high of $30.69. 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.79. The company has a market capitalization of $16.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.99 and a beta of 1.35.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.04. News had a net margin of 4.22% and a return on equity of 5.31%. Research analysts anticipate that News Co. will post 0.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

News Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. News’s payout ratio is 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.