BNP Paribas Financial Markets Lowers Position in News Corporation $NWS

BNP Paribas Financial Markets lessened its stake in News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWS) by 23.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 392,027 shares of the company’s stock after selling 122,973 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets’ holdings in News were worth $11,616,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of News by 15.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,163,392 shares of the company’s stock worth $301,141,000 after buying an additional 1,344,287 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in News by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,728,263 shares of the company’s stock worth $110,314,000 after purchasing an additional 124,871 shares during the last quarter. L1 Capital Pty Ltd bought a new stake in News in the third quarter worth $117,040,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in News by 0.4% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,960,509 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,733,000 after purchasing an additional 7,675 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in News by 1.5% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,544,073 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,348,000 after purchasing an additional 22,587 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 14.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings cut shares of News from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Zacks Research cut shares of News from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

News Stock Performance

NASDAQ NWS opened at $31.19 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $29.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $29.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock has a market cap of $17.07 billion, a PE ratio of 15.52 and a beta of 0.87. News Corporation has a 12 month low of $25.49 and a 12 month high of $35.58.

News (NASDAQ:NWS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.07. News had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 6.12%. The firm had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.12 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that News Corporation will post 0.96 earnings per share for the current year.

News Company Profile

News Corporation (NASDAQ: NWS) is a global media and information services company engaged in news and digital real estate, book publishing and other media businesses. The company’s operations include print and digital newsbrands, business and financial information services, consumer platforms for property listings, and a major book publishing arm. Through its subsidiaries and brands, News Corp produces news content, market and financial reporting, online real-estate marketplaces and trade and consumer publishing products.

Key areas of activity include news and information, where the company publishes national and regional newspapers and operates business information services; book publishing through a well-known global publisher; and property-related digital businesses that operate online marketplaces for real estate listings.