Mackenzie Financial Corp Cuts Stock Position in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA)

Mackenzie Financial Corp lessened its stake in shares of News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 39.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 344,539 shares of the company’s stock after selling 228,040 shares during the quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp’s holdings in News were worth $9,489,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in News by 2,392.9% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 1,005 shares during the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. acquired a new stake in shares of News during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of News during the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of News during the fourth quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of News by 49.7% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,989 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 660 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NWSA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. UBS Group upgraded News from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of News in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on News from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded News to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, News presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $39.20.

News Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NWSA opened at $28.25 on Wednesday. News Co. has a twelve month low of $23.38 and a twelve month high of $30.69. The company has a market capitalization of $15.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.70 and a beta of 1.30. 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 has a 50 day simple moving average of $26.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $27.87.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by ($0.02). News had a net margin of 4.22% and a return on equity of 5.31%. The company had revenue of $2.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.13 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that News Co. will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current year.

About News

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.