New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 37,254 Shares of News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA)

New York State Common Retirement Fund cut its holdings in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 11.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 287,381 shares of the company’s stock after selling 37,254 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.05% of News worth $7,055,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its position in shares of News by 153.1% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,635 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 989 shares during the period. Financial Management Professionals Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of News in the 4th quarter worth about $49,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of News by 65.1% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,655 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,000 after buying an additional 1,047 shares during the period. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt grew its position in shares of News by 120.5% in the 4th quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 2,897 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,000 after buying an additional 1,583 shares during the period. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of News in the 4th quarter worth about $132,000. 66.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

News Price Performance

NWSA opened at $24.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a current ratio of 1.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.00 and a beta of 1.35. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $25.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $23.98. News Co. has a 52-week low of $16.35 and a 52-week high of $28.00.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.06. News had a net margin of 2.29% and a return on equity of 4.14%. The business had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.14 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that News Co. will post 0.71 EPS for the current year.

News Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 12th. News’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on NWSA. Macquarie raised shares of News from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. TheStreet raised shares of News from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $29.50.

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