News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) Shares Bought by Man Group plc

Man Group plc grew its holdings in shares of News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 260.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 265,757 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 192,033 shares during the quarter. Man Group plc’s holdings in News were worth $7,319,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in News by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 50,952,317 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,403,227,000 after acquiring an additional 632,721 shares during the period. Independent Franchise Partners LLP lifted its holdings in shares of News by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 26,617,259 shares of the company’s stock valued at $733,039,000 after buying an additional 2,812,080 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of News by 124.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 14,713,823 shares of the company’s stock valued at $391,832,000 after buying an additional 8,144,856 shares during the period. Dodge & Cox lifted its holdings in shares of News by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 11,662,685 shares of the company’s stock valued at $321,190,000 after buying an additional 1,245,278 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of News by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,857,139 shares of the company’s stock valued at $270,798,000 after buying an additional 234,893 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on NWSA shares. StockNews.com upgraded News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded News to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on News from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. UBS Group raised News from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of News in a report on Thursday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.20.

News Stock Up 0.0%

NASDAQ:NWSA opened at $28.33 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.81 and a beta of 1.30. News Co. has a 1-year low of $23.38 and a 1-year high of $30.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $26.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $27.89.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $2.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2 billion. News had a net margin of 4.22% and a return on equity of 5.31%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.13 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that News Co. will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

News Profile

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