Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Raises Stock Holdings in News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA)

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 0.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 636,965 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 865 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned approximately 0.11% of News worth $17,338,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NWSA. Asset Value Investors Ltd purchased a new stake in News in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $122,391,000. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in News by 291.2% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 4,941,467 shares of the company’s stock valued at $136,088,000 after buying an additional 3,678,215 shares during the last quarter. 59 North Capital Management LP lifted its stake in News by 40.2% in the fourth quarter. 59 North Capital Management LP now owns 8,962,112 shares of the company’s stock valued at $246,817,000 after buying an additional 2,569,343 shares during the last quarter. Ion Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in News in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,102,000. Finally, Dodge & Cox lifted its stake in 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 last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of News in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Wall Street Zen cut News from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Macquarie restated a “neutral” rating and set a $32.70 price target on shares of News in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, News presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $38.12.

News Price Performance

News stock opened at $28.38 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $28.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $28.06. News Corporation has a 12 month low of $23.38 and a 12 month high of $30.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.07 billion, a PE ratio of 13.64 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.72.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19. News had a return on equity of 5.66% and a net margin of 13.21%. The firm had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.09 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.17 earnings per share. News’s quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that News Corporation will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current year.

News Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a half year 25 dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a yield of 70.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 10th. News’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.62%.

News Company 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.