BNP Paribas Financial Markets Sells 541,529 Shares of News Corporation $NWSA

BNP Paribas Financial Markets lowered its stake in shares of News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 29.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,325,514 shares of the company’s stock after selling 541,529 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned about 0.24% of News worth $34,622,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of NWSA. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in News by 5.5% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 37,556 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,022,000 after acquiring an additional 1,950 shares during the period. United Services Automobile Association bought a new position in News during the first quarter worth $206,000. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in News during the first quarter worth $204,000. Focus Partners Wealth increased its position in News by 44.4% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 16,618 shares of the company’s stock worth $452,000 after acquiring an additional 5,106 shares during the period. Finally, Sivia Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in News during the second quarter worth $545,000. Institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NWSA has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $34.00 target price on shares of News in a research report on Sunday, May 10th. Zacks Research upgraded News from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on News from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Weiss Ratings upgraded News from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, News currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.14.

News Stock Performance

NWSA opened at $26.05 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $14.26 billion, a PE ratio of 12.96 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. News Corporation has a 1 year low of $22.20 and a 1 year high of $31.61. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $25.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $25.39.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.05. News had a return on equity of 6.12% and a net margin of 12.92%.The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.17 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that News Corporation will post 0.92 EPS for the current year.

News 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.