News Corporation $NWSA Shares Purchased by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 22.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,770,946 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 330,513 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned approximately 0.31% of News worth $54,389,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of News by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 49,902 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,532,000 after buying an additional 1,737 shares during the period. GenTrust LLC purchased a new position in News during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,549,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its holdings in News by 10.6% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 39,652 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,218,000 after acquiring an additional 3,789 shares during the period. Ground Swell Capital LLC purchased a new stake in News in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $383,000. Finally, Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its stake in shares of News by 16.0% during the 3rd quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 134,356 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,126,000 after purchasing an additional 18,538 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

News Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NWSA opened at $23.58 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $13.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.62 and a beta of 0.99. News Corporation has a twelve month low of $22.20 and a twelve month high of $31.61. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $25.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $26.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.30 billion. News had a net margin of 13.35% and a return on equity of 5.94%. News’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.33 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that News Corporation will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

News Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 11th. This represents a yield of 83.0%. News’s payout ratio is 9.85%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NWSA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of News from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Weiss Ratings raised News from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Zacks Research cut News from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Morgan Stanley set a $32.40 price target on shares of News in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Guggenheim reduced their price objective on shares of News from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.02.

News Company Profile

News Corporation (NASDAQ: NWSA) is a global diversified media and information services company headquartered in New York City. It operates through two principal segments: News and Information Services, and Digital Real Estate Services. The company’s news and information division oversees a portfolio of leading newspapers, magazines and digital platforms, offering content across print and online channels. Its properties include Dow Jones, publisher of The Wall Street Journal and Barron’s, News UK titles such as The Times and The Sun, as well as News Corp Australia mastheads.

In addition to its journalism assets, News Corp is a significant player in book publishing through HarperCollins, one of the world’s largest consumer publishers.