Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Sells 649,617 Shares of News Corporation $NWSA

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lowered its stake in News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 79.3% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 169,466 shares of the company’s stock after selling 649,617 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in News were worth $4,225,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC bought a new stake in shares of News in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in News during the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Advisory Services Network LLC purchased a new stake in News during the 3rd quarter valued at $35,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its position in News by 154.5% in the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 780 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its stake in News by 561.1% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,732 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 1,470 shares during the period. 66.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

News Stock Performance

News stock opened at $25.26 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a current ratio of 1.70. The company has a market capitalization of $13.83 billion, a PE ratio of 12.57 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $26.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $25.44. News Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $22.20 and a fifty-two week high of $31.61.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. News had a return on equity of 6.12% and a net margin of 12.92%.News’s quarterly revenue was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.17 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that News Corporation will post 0.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $34.00 target price on shares of News in a research note on Sunday, May 10th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Zacks Research upgraded News from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Weiss Ratings raised News from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on News from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, News currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.14.

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.